St. Edward survives Aurora Central Catholic's charge
Aurora Central Catholic threw everything it had at St. Edward in the fourth quarter Friday - a little full-court pressure, some Mario May down low and a lot of Brett Czerak hitting shots seemingly from the parking lot.
St. Edward had an answer for it all, all 35 of the fourth-quarter points the Chargers put on the scoreboard.
Sophomore Kelvin Cortez-Harvey proved to be the most clutch, making all 6 of his free throws, while his mates in the three-guard lineup Gino Domel and Joseph French handled the Chargers' pressure, and sixth man Danny Favela added a key tip-in in the final minute of the Green Wave's 74-70 victory.
"Coach (PJ White) called timeout and just settled us down and we let it come to us and played our game and made our free throws," Domel said. "We work on breaking the press every single day. We spend a lot of time on that. It's almost second nature to us."
The Green Wave (9-2, 3-0 in the Metro Suburban West) never trailed in the game, but they also didn't breathe easy until the final buzzer.
Aurora Central Catholic (3-4, 1-2) fell behind by 10 points in the first half before rallying within 30-26 at halftime. The Chargers then dug themselves a 12-point second-half deficit, and once again stormed back, this time getting as close as 66-64, 68-66, 70-68 and 72-70.
"Our shooting really keeps us in games," said May, who made 11 of 12 free throws and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. "We go on streaks that are negative where we miss a couple shots, but then we'll answer with a couple shots and it will be close again. The crowd started getting loud and they started to crack a little bit and we started to hit more shots."
St. Edward built its 47-35 lead through three quarters by getting one high-percentage look after another against the Chargers' zone. The Green Wave shot 57 percent from the field for the game (28 of 49), and they put five players in double figures: Cortez-Harvey (19 points), Nick Duffy (14), Domel (13), French (12) and Favela (10).
Even while the Chargers were getting close in the fourth, St. Edward kept making shots, scoring 27 points in the quarter on 8-of-12 shooting.
Czerak's 3-point basket with 1:28 remaining made it a one-possession game for the first time since the first quarter, a 64-61 St. Edward lead. Domel's two free throws pushed the lead to 5 points before Czerak drove, drew a double team and dished to May underneath for a three-point play and a 66-64 game.
Cortez-Harvey again broke the Chargers press for layup only to see Czerak drain a long jumper. St. Edward missed from point-blank range after breezing through the press, but Favela managed an off-balance tip that went in to extend the lead back to 70-66.
"Danny is one of our best inside guys, he's got great jumping ability," White said. "We've got to have him on the glass."
After May made two more free throws and French split a pair, the Chargers had once chance to tie down 71-68 with 20 seconds to go. Czerak fired from the left wing under heavy pressure and came up short.
Cortez-Harvey sealed the win with 2 free throws with 7 seconds left for a 74-70 lead.
"Coach makes us practice free throws all the time," Cortez-Harvey said.
The Green Wave's win reversed an earlier 80-68 Chargers victory at Aurora Christian's tournament.
"You have to give them credit, they hit some big shots and some of them were from way out there," White said. "They have some good shooters as everyone in the gym can attest to. We said at the end, 'Spread them out and make your free throws.' We made just enough to get by."
"They are a hard team to pressure because they have three guards who can really handle the ball," ACC coach Nate Drye said. "It's hard to chase. We hit some 3s at the end but that's probably not indicative of how the game went. We had a lot of holes on defense. We're not guarding well at all."
Czerak, a sophomore, led all scorers with a career-high 30 points. Evan Schuetz added 15.
"We're taking much harder shots than they're taking right now. It's not even close," Drye said. "If Brett doesn't go out of his mind tonight that game is not even close. He made the game closer than the game really was. The degree of difficulty on his shots was incredible. They were shooting layups and he was shooting pullup 18-footers with a guy draped on him. It's really hard to win like that."