Westminster wins tourney title

Westminster Christian boys basketball coach Bruce Firchau knews his team has some things to work on, especially at the free-throw line.

But if the Warriors keep playing defense like they have throughout the Westminster Christian Thanksgiving Classic, Firchau knows his team will have a chance to win most games.

The Warriors held St. Edward to 30 percent shooting Saturday night in a 44-42 victory that gave Westminster the tournament championship.

"We like our chances any time we keep our opponents to the scores (we did in the tournament)," Firchau said. "I think there's a big upside to how hard we play defense."

The Green Wave (3-1) opened a 5-0 lead in the first 2 minutes, but hit only one more field goal the rest of the first quarter, which ended tied 7-7.

Westminster (4-0) grabbed its first lead at 11-10 after a Ryan Beachler layup with 5:25 left in the second quarter. The lead changed four more times in the next 2-plus minutes. Dan Graves' basket with 2 minutes left in the half gave the Warriors a 15-14 lead. The Green Wave never led again.

"If we play defense like we did against St. Edward, we have a shot in every game," said Beachler, who finished with 9 points.

St. Edward's Josh Dix hit 2 free throws with 2:56 remaining in the third quarter to tie the game at 28-28. A 3-pointer from Ben Carani, who hit three 3-pointers, with 30 seconds left in the quarter gave Westminster a 31-28 lead heading into the fourth.

The Warriors allowed St. Edward to stay in the game because of poor free-throw shooting in the fourth. They hit only 8 of 17. Graves went 1 of 2 with 38.5 seconds left as Westminster went up 43-39. After a miss from St. Edward, two missed free throws gave the Green Wave another chance to make it a one-possession game.

Dix hit a 3-pointer with 16.4 second left to make it 43-42. Beachler then hit 1 of 2 free throws with 12.5 seconds left for a 2-point lead. Dix missed another 3-point attempt and the ball went out of bounds with 1.2 seconds left.

"We had set plays, I think we kind of rushed it," Green Wave coach Keith Chuipek said. "I think that's partially because of being early in the season."

St. Edward's Paul Bianchi stole the in-bounds pass at mid-court, but his despearation shot was off the mark.

Steve Martin led the Green Wave with 15 points, all in the second half. Riley Coleman added 10 points.

Carani and Ian Dutcher each scored 11 points for the Warriors.