Prairie Ridge handles St. Edward
After a 27-point loss to St. Charles North on Saturday, it looked as if St. Edward would rebound nicely with an impressive 26-15 first-quarter explosion against Prairie Ridge Monday at the Jacobs Holiday Classic.
St. Edward (5-6) went lights out, hitting 9 of 12 shots, including four 3-pointers, one from Mike Ellis who had 11 first-quarter points. But, at some point, you'd figure Corky Card's team defense would step up.
"We gave up 26 points in the 1st quarter. I didn't even know that was possible till I saw it," Card said. "Right now we're just trying to pressure the ball enough to give ourselves times to catch up."
Card was right. Not only did the Wolves (5-5) pressure the life out of the Green Wave, St. Edward committed 25 turnovers and took just 24 shots from the second quarter on. The Wolves outscored the Green Wave 59-38 and Chad Ljunggren's 34-point effort gave PR more than enough to come out with a 74-64 win.
"We trapped them well," said Ljunggren. "I think we matched up with them on our press well."
Trailing 29-17 with 7:27 in the second quarter, the Wolves' press began clicking, sparking a 23-7 run to halftime. Ljunggren, who had 7 steals, hit a 3-pointer and scored 2 consecutive layups, which cut the deficit to 5. He rattled off a couple thefts and fast break layups to give PR a 35-34 lead with less than 2 minutes to go in the half. Ljunggren nailed a 3-pointer before the half, and erased an 11-point Wave lead with his own 16-point quarter. Incredibly, St. Edward shot 11-for-19 in the half, but only attempted 7 shots and was outscored 25-10 in the second quarter to trail 40-36 at the half.
"We've had problems like that. We've had very good first quarters this year, and all of a sudden, we get a little impatient. They had us rushing our shots," Green Wave coach Keith Chuipek said.
The Green Wave couldn't do the same to Prairie Ridge, as the Wolves shot 56 percent from the field and kept going to the press which forced 13 second-half turnovers.
Seven 3-pointers kept St. Edward alive. DJ Byrnes (13 points) nailed one with 2 minutes remaining in the third, cutting the lead to 47-44. Prairie Ridge outscored the Wave 27-20 in the last 9 minutes and timely turnovers took their toll. Ljunggren put the game away for good on his fifth 3-pointer with under 6 minutes remaining, giving the Wolves a 57-46 lead. He scored 9 points in the fourth quarter and added 5 rebounds.
"I talked to Corky before the game about how he gets his the kids to understand their roles and where they have to go. A lot of teams have some sort of identity and I think Prairie Ridge's identity is they play hard on defense, and you can't buckle on pressure," said Chuipek.