Wheaton Academy puts away St. Edward
Despite having a double-digit halftime lead Friday night, the Wheaton Academy boys basketball team talked about coming out in the third quarter and putting away St. Edward.
The Warriors accomplished that, turning a 13-point lead into a 23-point advantage. They cruised the rest of the way for a 64-49 Suburban Christian Gold victory over the Green Wave in Elgin.
"We had an especially good third quarter," Warriors coach Paul Ferguson said. "We told the guys (at halftime) to come out and have a strong third quarter and finish this thing off."
Wheaton Academy (20-1, 7-0) led 33-20 at halftime behind Tim Rusthoven's 15 first-halftime points.
The Warriors pounded the ball inside, taking advantage of their height. Anthony Ritchie (6-foot-5), Rusthoven (6-9) and Luke Johnson (6-8) all scored inside during an 8-0 run that gave the Warriors a 41-21 lead less than 31/2 minutes into the third quarter.
"We accomplished our goal - we wanted to come out and compete," Green Wave coach Keith Chuipek said.
"The beginning of the third quarter they just showed they were going to go inside. That's what they did and built their lead."
The Warriors led 49-26 after the third, allowing Ferguson to rest four starters for the entire fourth quarter and Johnson for the final 5 minutes.
"We came a little flat so I decided to get us going a little bit," said Rusthoven, who scored nine first-quarter points as the Warriors didn't hit a field goal until 5:43 left in the first quarter. The senior finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks.
St. Edward (10-13, 2-6) started slowly, missing its first four shots and trailed 7-0 before Mike Ellis got the Green Wave on the scoreboard. Ellis scored 8 of his team-high 14 points in the first quarter.
Despite shooting just 8 for 24 in the first half, the Green Wave stayed fairly close until the third quarter.
Eddie O'Hallaran, a sophomore who was brought up to varsity recently, hit four 3-pointers in the fourth as the Green Wave made the final score more respectable.
Johnson and Tate Fritz each finished with 11 points for the Warriors, who have won all 20 of their games this season by double figures.
Ritchie added 10 points.