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St. Edward racks up 3rd straight 20-win season

It took a couple of seasons for coach PJ White to get the St. Edward boys basketball program pointed in the right direction, but its upward momentum is undeniable.

St. Edward went 7-20 in 2010-11, the first year White, also the school's athletic director, took over as coach after Keith Chuipek's departure.

The Green Wave improved to 11-17 the following season, a mere harbinger of good things to come.

With Friday's 63-49 Metro Suburban West home victory over Wheaton Academy, St. Edward (20-3, 8-1) reached 20 wins for the third consecutive season. Since 2012-13, the program has won 60 games while losing only 20.

White, a longtime Batavia assistant under IBCA hall-of-famer Jim Roberts, modestly credits the Jimmys and the Joes, not his Xs and Os.

"We have good, talented kids," the fifth-year coach said. "As long as I don't get in the way too much, they do a really good job. And that's the key: see what they're good at and let them express themselves on the floor and make sure they can do a good job at that and practice that all week long. That's what we try to do and we try to get them all to buy into that."

Four St. Edward players finished in double-figure scoring against the Warriors, including senior guard Joe French (12 points, 3 assists, 2 steals) and senior center Nick Duffy, who added 11 points for a career total of 979.

Two other difference makers were point guard Gino Domel and forward Danny Favela. Domel scored 8 of his team-high 13 points in the third quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers. The senior shot 5 of 8 from the field and dished 4 assists.

"Coach just told me don't try to do too much, just let it come to me," Domel said. "I let my guys work and get the ball inside, then they kicked it back out to me and I was able to make some shots."

Favela was under the weather and held scoreless when St. Edward defeated Wheaton Academy 56-37 in West Chicago on Dec. 12. He made up for it in the rematch with 10 points and a career-best 13 rebounds.

"My role on this team is rebounds and defense," said Favela, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound forward committed to Loras College to play football. "But if I can get points along the way, it just makes us that much better."

Wheaton Academy (4-18, 1-7) pushed the Green Wave throughout. The Warriors used a 10-3 run to winnow a 15-point, fourth-quarter deficit to 54-47, capped by senior guard Bryce Sandberg's jump shot from the lane with 3:20 to play.

However, St. Edward responded with a 9-0 run to seal matters, keyed by a pair of Duffy baseline drives and a steal, which the Wave converted into a fast-break bucket by Kelvin Cortez-Harvey.

The Warriors found themselves on the wrong side of the turnover battle (16-9) and rebounding (24-17).

"They fought hard," Wheaton Academy coach Pete Froedden said of his players. "We turned the ball over too many times in the first half and then gave up too much middle penetration, two things we didn't really need to do against them because they're so good in transition. They get stuff going at a fast pace. Their guards are really good with the ball. We need to be able to play them in the half court."

Junior forward Anthony Polinski scored 11 points, Sandberg finished with 10 and senior Evan Williams added 5 points and 7 rebounds for Wheaton Academy.

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