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St. Edward tops Glenbard South in OT

St. Edward senior guard Joe French had no explanation why he went so cold after a hot-shooting opening quarter against Glenbard South Tuesday in Elgin.

But French had no problem joking with forward Nick Duffy about whose shot was bigger down the stretch in St. Edward's come-from-behind 63-59 overtime win over the Raiders in the teams' first Metro Suburban West showdown.

The Green Wave (7-2, 1-0), who trailed mostly throughout and by as many as 10 in the third quarter, roared back with a 19-6 run bridging the third and fourth quarters, and French's big 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 55 seconds left in the fourth gave St. Edward a 54-53 lead. Duffy, who scored 9 of his 16 points in the third, put the Wave up for good in overtime when he posted up on the right block and forced up a shot to his right after a fake with 1:30 left for a 59-57 St. Edward lead.

"I just started off hot and I don't know, just kind of cooled down, I don't know what happened," said French, who had a game-high 18 points on four 3-pointers and explained his go-ahead shot. "Most of the first half they were jumping to double the screen and roll we ran and that one, both of them dropped off with their big guy and I just had space. Luckily it went in."

But as Duffy lightheartedly disagreed: "I turned middle, tried to get him in the air, and I had to kind of force one up. Joe ... he's amazing out there. But mine was a little bit bigger."

St. Edward grabbed its first win in the Metro Suburban West after playing in the Suburban Christian Conference last season, but the Wave had to work for it as Glenbard South (1-4, 0-1) dominated the glass 29-19 with 16 coming offensively. But the Raiders committed 11 of their 21 turnovers in the second half and overtime as French had 4 steals while Kevlin Cortez-Harvey had 7 steals to go with his 9 points and 6 assists.

"Unfortunately it turned into a blood bath, we didn't respond well," said Raiders' coach Wade Hardtke, who acknowledged the atmosphere in South's first appearance at St. Edward. "We got baptized for the first time out here. To say the least that was an experience."

It canceled out solid performances by Kyle Carli, who scored 11 points while Tyler Scott and Billy Bair, who came off the bench, each added 10. Johnny LaPonte led the team with 9 rebounds, 6 on the offensive end to go with his 8 points.

"We just have to figure out how to win," Hardtke said "We're learning every step of the way, trying to learn how to win and learn how to close that one out."

Once St. Edward played a little smarter and boxed out in the late stages of the third, the Wave flourished. Gino Domel (10 points, 3 assists, 1 steal) tied matters at 49 with his jumper and the lead seesawed until French's 3-pointer gave St. Edward the lead under a minute left. The Wave hit 7 in total from long distance.

"When you play high school basketball or any basketball you can't give up," Wave coach P.J. White said. "And we showed great signs of not giving up. We'd go down a lot and then fight our way back. We knew if we stayed patient and didn't turn the ball over very much we'd be able to stay with them and we caught them at the right time."

Images: St. Edward vs. Glenbard South, boys basketball

  St. Edward's Kelvin Cortez-Harvey steals the ball from Glenbard South's Tyler Scott in the final seconds to seal the Green Wave victory in Elgin Tuesday. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Nick Duffy passes the ball out around Glenbard South's Povilas Riauba and Billy Bair in Elgin Tuesday. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Gino Domel passes through Glenbard South defense in Elgin Tuesday. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  St. Edward's Brandon Ostrander deflects a pass by Glenbard South's Kyle Carli in Elgin Tuesday. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
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