St. Edward rolls in White's debut

It's only natural to have first game jitters.

Even 3-year varsity player Michael Ellis had some questions before he and his St. Edward teammates took the court for their season opener against Morgan Park Academy.

The questions and jitters erased about as quickly as the Green Wave were able to score buckets. St. Edward jumped out to a 30-5 first-quarter lead and kept strong with a 72-34 victory over the Mustangs in the opening round of the Fourth Annual Warrior Thanksgiving Basketball Classic hosted by Westminster Christian.

“We came out and did what we were supposed to do,” said Ellis, who finished with 15 points. “We just had to calm down. Everything was based off the team. Smart defense led to fast breaks.”

St. Edward (1-0) forced 11 turnovers in the first period, including recording 9 steals. Ellis picked the ball off 3 times and led St. Edward with 13 points in the opening period.

Fastbreak baskets also allowed the Green Wave to shoot an amazing 64.7 percent (11 of 17) in the first quarter. Ellis was 4 of 6 and Edward O'Halloran went 3 of 3.

“(Ellis) is a 3-year varsity player for this school, he's got to be the leader on the floor,” first-year Green Wave coach P.J. White said. “He's someone we're going to look to to score.”

O'Halloran was another viable scoring weapon for the Green Wave. St. Edward built its lead up to 51-7 at the half when O'Halloran jacked and made 3-straight 3-pointers to end the half.

Morgan Park scored its lone basked when Pat Donahue (13 points) made a layup with 2:57 left in the half. O'Halloran connected on a 3-pointer to put St. Edward up 45-7 on the next trip down the floor. He would extend the lead to 48-7 with 1:13 left and the hit the trifecta as time expired to send the Green Wave into the locker room ahead 51-7.

“At first, I was nervous, but once I hit my first couple of shots, I was in a rhythm,” O'Halloran said.

His long-rang efforts capped off a 75 percent (8 for 12) second-quarter shooting effort. Troy Gudino went 4 of 6 in the period and scored all 9 of his points. St. Edward forced 15 total first-half turnovers and held the Mustangs to a 3 of 17 shooting effort in the first half.

“We were playing in a zone and trapping up top,” O'Halloran said. “(Morgan Park) was getting a little shaky and we got a lot of turnovers off of that.”