Mendota ousts St. Edward
St. Edward dug a great big hole for itself Tuesday, then spent three quarters trying to climb out before finally running out of time.
The Green Wave spotted Mendota an 11-0 lead in their opening round game of the Class 2A Plano boys basketball regional, and trailed by as many as 13 points (17-4), before working their way back into it but coming up short, and dropping a tough one, 60-57
“We can’t put ourselves down 11-0 and expect to come out of it, not in the state tournament,” St. Edward coach P.J. White said.
Mendota (10-20) dominated the boards in the opening half, routinely turning missed shots into second chances, and second chances into points.
“I thought we could attack the glass against those guys and get a lot of rebounds,” Mendota coach Jan Thompson said. “We’re not normally a team that outrebounds a lot of people, because of our size and height. But I knew they were lacking some size as well.”
St. Edward couldn’t get anything to drop early on, and it didn’t help things that Michael Ellis collected his second foul just 3 minutes into the game, and spent the rest of the quarter on the bench.
“Our best player was in foul trouble and had to sit out half the game, but that’s not an excuse, we didn’t play very well,” White said.
Ben Lehman scored on a putback with 2:55 remaining in the first quarter to give St. Edward its first points. But as the Green Wave finally got rolling, Mendota responded. The two teams exchanged a flurry of scoring that was capped by Zach Lewis’ easy layup at the buzzer, giving the Trojans a 23-11 lead.
St. Edward pulled to within 8 early in the second quarter, then again when Ellis returned to the game and scored on a 3-point play. With 1:05 left in the half, Ellis hit from beyond the arc, but picked up his third foul a few seconds later.
With Ellis on the bench, Eddie O’Halloran (17 points) and Zach Brewster (16 points) stepped up and pulled the Green Wave to within striking distance in the third quarter. Brewster sank a pair of free throws, then hit a left side jumper on his team’s next possession and the Green Wave trailed by just 3 points, 45-42, at the start of the fourth quarter.
But instead of building on their momentum, the Green Wave let Mendota get back into a flow, and midway through the fourth quarter the margin was back up to 53-44.
It seemed like every time Ellis (16 points) touched the ball he made something happen. That was the case when he returned to the game, scoring on a 3-point play, then pulling down a big rebound, and scoring again with 57 seconds left to trim Mendota’s lead to 58-54.
But the Trojans hit just enough late-game free throws that when Brewster drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer it still wasn’t enough.
The Green Wave finished the season with a 7-20 record. Mendota plays Westminster Christian at 6 p.m. tonight in the semifinals.