St. Edward falters in 4th quarter
St. Edward was able to control the tempo of Friday's game for nearly three quarters.
The Green Wave also held a 36-29 lead.
But then Walther Lutheran coach Al Lainio took the leash off and switched his defense from a zone to a full-court man-to-man making the game much faster.
The speed favored the Broncos, who scored 28 fourth-quarter points and eventually won a 59-50 Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division boys basketball matchup in Elgin Friday night.
"We gave a great effort in the first half and through the third quarter," Green Wave coach P.J. White said. "They pushed the pressure up to full court and that zapped the energy we had left."
Walther Lutheran (9-9, 5-1) went on a 14-0 run after the Green Wave (9-12, 2-5) went up 36-29 on an Eddie O'Halloran basket with 1:57 left in the third period. St. Edward would not hit another basket until Zack McQueen scored 5 minutes, 3 seconds later to cut the Broncos' lead to 43-38.
St. Edward missed 10-straight shots after O'Halloran's basket, while the Broncos looked nearly unstoppable on the offensive end. Walther Lutheran made 12 of 13 shots in the fourth quarter. Senior Jeff Walker came off the bench to score 14 of his game-high 20 points in the final period, shooting 6 of 6 from the floor. Cody Cotton (4 assists, 2 steals) went 4 of 5, scoring 8 of his 14 points in the final period. Jon Fuqua added 18 points.
"We're a run-and-gun team," Walker said. "In the zone, we were flat-footed. In the man, we were much more aggressive. We just came out (in the fourth quarter) and played hard."
St. Edward built its lead with its own aggressive play. Guard Tony Gudino (10 points) scored 8 points in the third period by driving the lane. And when St. Edward missed, McQueen was there to clean up, scoring twice on offensive putbacks.
O'Halloran did the damage early scoring 10 of his 18 points in the first quarter. The guard was also fouled twice on 3-point attempts both times converting 2 of 3 free throws. But St. Edward finished the final period being outscored 28-14.
"We weren't going to get anything accomplished in a zone, so we went to man," Alinio said. "We believe defense leads to offense. We don't even worry about scoring. We started getting after them on defense, then we attacked the middle of their zone."
Crystal Lake South 55, Jacobs 53: The host Gators led 35-18 at halftime and ballooned their lead to 20 in the third quarter, but Jacobs rallied to within a basket. CL South (5-14, 3-4) didn't breathe easy until a shot by Jacobs (4-16, 2-3) missed the mark in the final seconds.
"We really had a nice run to get back in it, but we missed a two-footer at the horn that would have tied it and sent it to overtime," Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle said.
Max Meitzler scored 16 points for the Gators. Nick Ledinsky led the Golden Eagles with 19 points and Will Schwerdtmann added 15.
Westminster Christian 50, IMSA 41: Will Woodhouse scored 24 points to lead Westminster Christian (10-10) to a nonconference win. Josh Beachler added 8 points for the Warriors.