St. Edward opens with win over Luther North
The season is off to a great start for the St. Edward Green Wave boys basketball team.
The Green Wave defeated the Luther North Wildcats 51-35 Monday night in the opening game of the Thanksgiving tournament at Westminster Christian.
The Green Wave broke out offensively in the second quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 22-8 thanks in part to 3 field goals and 2 free-throws from junior center Adrian Ponce. St. Edward head coach P.J. White was happy to see his team start to jell with each other in the second quarter, after only scoring 12 points in the first.
"It's the first game, so they had those first-quarter jitters," said White. "They got into it in the second. We slowed it down and ran the offense a little more. We took better shots, a few more layups. Those always help."
Ponce finished the night with 15 points for the Green Wave, while senior guard Doug Johnson led the team with 18, including two 3-pointers.
While the second quarter offense was a key to the Green Wave's first win, White was glad to see his team execute its inside game throughout the night.
"We're constantly talking about playing more inside," White said. "So we got a few more inside points, which was really nice to see."
The Wildcats generated some offense in the fourth quarter, as Sean Chapman made 3 consecutive free throws as part of a 5-0 run. After St. Edward junior forward Alex Lobo made a free-throw to give the Green Wave a 21-point lead, Luther North made another last-minute run with a 3-point field goal by sophomore Nathan Kurtz; but the late run would not be enough, as the Green Wave came out with the 16-point victory.
White knows that his team could have protected the ball better in the second half to prevent the late runs by Luther North, but was pleased overall with the efforts in their opening game.
"We didn't have a lot of turnovers, but things got a little more out of hand in the second half," said White. "I thought for the first game, they did a really nice job. A lot of different people got to play, and a lot of guys got to score. I was happy with their overall performance."
Senior forward Sean Chapman led the Wildcats with 16 points.