North Boone ousts St. Edward; Elgin Academy wins
North Boone had a massive height advantage over St. Edward.
The Green Wave were able to overcome it for much of the game by sinking 3-pointers and slowing the game down. But when the Vikings were able to pound the foul-plagued Green Wave down low a tie game turned into a 48-36 North Boone win in the opening game of the Class 2A Genoa-Kingston boys basketball regional Monday night.
"I was shocked they didn't do that more in the first half," St. Edward coach P.J. White said of the North Boone inside game. "We didn't really have a great defense for that. We played a zone and hoped they couldn't get it in."
Vikings' center Tim Huber (4 blocks) scored 14 of his game-high 16 points in the second half and forward Kyle Koepp added 7 of his 11. St. Edward forward Zack McQueen played much of the second half with 4 fouls before fouling out with 5:25 left to play.
Freshman Nick Duffy, who played major minutes for McQueen, also fouled out, leaving No. 5 seed St. Edward running with three guards on the floor trying to defend the No. 4 seed Vikings' inside game.
St. Edward had the game tied at 22 at halftime and trailed just 32-30 by then end of the third quarter. Then Huber and Koepp scored back-to-back baskets to extend the lead to 36-30.
Antonio Domel (14 points) scored off an offensive putback with 4:33 left in the game, bringing the Green Wave back to 36-32. He would nail a 3-pointer with 3:28 left off a pass from Eddie O'Halloran (10 points) to bring St. Edward (11-17) back to 38-35.
The was the last basket that the Green Wave would score as North Boone (15-12) closed the game out on a 10-1 run.
"We had it to 36-32, then we turned the ball over right there and they came down and scored and never looked back," White said. "We had a lot of good shots in the first half. (In the second half) we started missing. They picked up the pressure defensively."
Domel (3 assists) and O'Halloran both had the shooter's touch in the first half. Domel was 3-for-3 from the floor, all 3-pointers, in the first half. O'Halloran went 4-for-11, but connected on 3 3-pointers in the Green Wave's 15-point second quarter. St. Edward went 6-for-9 from beyond the 3-point line in the first half.
"(Domel and O'Halloran) really knocked down some tough shots to keep them right there," North Boone coach Jason Weber said. "In that first half, they really made some shots."
The Green Wave managed just 3-for-12 in the third period and 2-for-12 in the fourth quarter. St. Edward put up just 14 second-half points.
Elgin Academy 51, Harvest Christian 48: Elgin Academy (9-14) overcame a 12-4 deficit after the first quarter to outlast Harvest Christian in the quarterfinals of the Class 1A Hinckley-Big Rock regional. Michael Grabeck had 16 points to lead the Hilltoppers, while Connor Flexman added 13. Tom Tunca and Jumel Julian had 8 each. John Vislisel led Harvest (9-18) with a game-high 27 points, while Stuart Wolff added 14 for the Lions. Elgin Academy will play at 8:10 p.m. on Wednesday against top seed Hinckley.