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Westminster Christian knocks off St. Edward

Westminster Christian's boys basketball team had a big test on Friday night against St. Edward and passed it with flying colors.

After surrendering a 13-point second half lead the Warriors rallied back and defeated the Green Wave 50-47 to advance to the championship game of their own Thanksgiving tournament. Westminster will face Indian Creek for the title at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Senior Dillon Rejman had 19 points to lead the Warriors. Sophomore Ben Versluys added 14 points.

"We've been preaching toughness for a while now," Westminster coach Andy Zielinski said. "We knew this was going to be a tough challenge for us. St. Edward is a physical team and we were able to stand right in there with them. It says a lot about how far we have come from that aspect."

The Warriors led 29-16 early in the third quarter, but St. Edward slowly chipped away at the deficit and eventually took the lead 41-40 with 2:21 left in the game. However, the Warriors answered back moments later with a pair of free throws from Versluys after he was fouled taking the ball to the basket.

The Warriors went on an 8-2 run from that point to build a 48-43 advantage. Rejman had 4 free throws during the clinching run and Scott Graziano finished it off with a breakaway layup after a Green Wave turnover.

The Green Wave pulled back to within 1 point at 48-47 with 4.2 seconds left on a Andrew O'Neill bucket. However, after a couple of free throws by Rejman made it 50-47 the Green Wave had one last chance to tie it, but a half court desperation shot at the buzzer just missed off the backboard.

"I was really impressed with the way we responded after giving up the lead" Zielinski said. "We had a lot of close games over the summer, but couldn't close them out. Tonight I was proud of the way we played at the end of the game. We just kept our composure."

The Warriors (3-0) went on an 11-4 run at the start of the second quarter to open a 21-12 lead and were still up 25-16 at halftime. Rejman carried the Warriors early on with 9 first half points. He then helped seal the deal in the fourth quarter with 7 of 8 shooting from the free throw line.

"We just started going to the basket at the end of the game," Rejman said. "Getting to the free throw line is the easiest way to get the momentum back and score some points. I really like what is going on with the team. Coach Z has stepped in and done a great job to get us ready and we've got some guys who can play."

St. Edward couldn't get much going offensively in the first half. Kelvin Cortez-Harvey (13 points), who was held scoreless in the first half, finally got the Green Wave going with a couple 3-pointers in the third quarter. O'Neill helped to keep it going. He scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half. However, the Green Wave made just 1 of 4 shots down the stretch and had a couple costly turnovers. They were also hurt by 3 0f 13 shooting from the free throw line in the game.

"We were just way too tentative early on," St. Edward coach PJ White said. "The only time we got something going was when we got more aggressive and we just couldn't keep it going. Give Westminster a lot of credit. They did a good job moving the ball inside and we just didn't have an answer for it."

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