St. Edward handles Guerin Prep
St. Edward's boys basketball team hasn't used a half-court trap defense very much.
Coach Keith Chuipek has wanted to install the defense, but before this season he didn't feel he had the type of athletes who could make it work.
Saturday night's 59-37 victory over Chicago Guerin Prep was an excellent display of how well the half-court trap could work. The Suburban Christian Conference victory snaps a 3-game losing streak for the Green Wave (5-3, 1-1)
"That was the first time we've done it this year," Chuipek said of the defense. "We've been working on it at the sophomore level. It's another thing that people have to prepare for."
Led by two 3-pointers from Andrew Waterman, the Green Wave went up 19-12 after the first quarter. St. Edward allowed Guerin to score just 12 points over the next 2 quarters going up by as much 48-24 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. St. Edward outscored Guerin 27-12 in the second and third quarters.
Guerin struggled shooting all night, going a combined 28.5 percent (14 of 49) from the floor, including a 5 of 26 effort during the second and third quarters. Adding to the struggles were the 18 turnovers St. Edward forced.
"That's our bread and butter," point guard Mike Ellis said of the half-court trap. "When we need a quick steal or a quick basket, that's what we go to."
Ellis (10 points) found plenty of people to go to finishing 4 assists, dishing out the assist on both of Waterman's 3-pointers in the first quarter, which put St. Edward up 6-2. He later found Nick Kerger for a 3-pointer that put the Green Wave up 14-10. Gus Domel jacked the Green Wave's fourth 3-pointer of the period as time expired, giving the lively crowd another reason to cheer.
St. Edward finished shooting 6 of 13 from 3-point land in the first half, and Waterman finished the game jacking 4 long-range bombs.
"We started out shooting with confidence," said Waterman, who led all players with 16 points. "Mike Ellis was making real good passes to the wing guys. We let the game come to us."
Kevin Maahs finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds for Guerin, but 11 of his points came in the first half.