Westminster knocks off St. Edward, will play for title
The Westminster Christian boys basketball team made its run midway through the second quarter Friday night and didn't slow down.
The Warriors turned a 5-point deficit into a 7-point lead with a 12-0 run en route to a 67-55 victory over St. Edward in the final pool play game at the Fourth Annual Warrior Thanksgiving Basketball Classic at Westminster Christian.
"Basketball is a game of runs. In that particular quarter, we took advantage of the run we had," said Westminster's Ian Dutcher, who finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. "We didn't shy away. We were confident."
Westminster (3-0) led by 5, 33-28, at halftime and the lead never fell below five the entire second half. The Warriors went 9-for-9 from the field in the third quarter to extend the lead to 12, 53-41, entering the fourth.
"That was a good game for early in the year," Warriors coach Bruce Firchau said. "I was really pleased with how we played for most of the game."
The victory sends the Warriors to the championship game against Indian Creek (3-0) at 7 p.m. today. St. Edward (2-1) will play Immaculate Conception (2-1) at 5:30 p.m. today in the third-place game.
Westminster jumped out to a 6-0 lead on two Dutcher offensive putbacks and a bucket from Andrew Mason. The Green Wave called a timeout and responded with a 20-8 run, capped by a Edward O'Halloran 3-pointer, to take a 20-14 lead with 2:10 left in the first quarter.
"We have to play as a team," Green Wave coach P.J. White said. "We were trying to force things. When we play as a team and as a unit, we do fine."
St. Edward's lead was 23-18 after Michael Ellis, who finished with a game-high 31 points, hit 1 of 2 free throws with 5:24 left in the second quarter. Ellis had only 4 points and 1 field goal attempt in the quarter. Dutcher started the Warriors' run with an basket inside with 4:49 remaining in the half. Dutcher, a 6-foot-9 senior, scored 5 points in the game-changing run as Westminster took a 30-23 lead.
"Josh Beachler got Ellis, somewhat controlled," Firchau said. "We know Mike is going to score. We wanted him to really, really work hard to earn his points."
Other than Ellis, no other St. Edward player reached double figures. O'Halloran finished with 8 points, all in the first quarter.
The Warriors had plenty of balance to go along with Dutcher. Luke Carani had 15 points. Mason added 13 points and 5 rebounds. Brandon Cork had 9 points on three 3-pointers.