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St. Edward takes 3rd place at Westminster

There wasn't the least bit of panic.

Down by 13 points early in the second quarter, St. Edward's boys basketball team methodically whittled away at the lead and eventually rallied for a 44-35 victory over Luther North to claim third place at the 9th Annual Warrior Thanksgiving Basketball Classic hosted by Westminster Christian in Elgin Saturday night.

"We didn't panic, switched up some things on offense and defense and started to make some shots," said St. Edward coach PJ White. "We are playing so many games in a short period of time we don't get a lot of practice time so we have to learn during games. I liked the way we bounced back after (Friday) night's loss (to Westminster Christian)."

Luther North grabbed a 19-7 lead after 1 quarter after a 3-pointer by Jordan Foster to beat the buzzer.

The Wildcats' biggest lead of the game was 22-9 when Fernando Montes buried a trey with 7:01 left in the first half.

St. Edward was able to slice 2 points off Luther North's lead and trailed 26-15 at halftime.

Led by all-tournament selection Andrew O' Neill's two 3-pointers and a layup from Adam Radcliffe, the Green Wave scored the first 8 points of the third quarter and got to within 3, 26-23, with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

A layup by St. Ed's guard Kelvin Cortez-Harvey at the buzzer tied the game at 33 after 24 minutes of play.

The Green Wave, who outscored Luther North 37-16 during the final 3 quarters, scored the first 7 points of the fourth quarter on 4 points from Cortez-Harvey and a 3-pointer by Radcliffe to take a 40-33 lead with 5:22 left in the final 8 minutes.

The Green Wave's stifling defense held Luther North to just 2 free throws in the fourth quarter.

"We really worked hard on defense and were more aggressive during the final three quarters," said White. "We really communicated on offense and defense and finished strong."

Cortez-Harvey led St. Edward with 17 points and 4 assists while Radcliffe scored 11.

"Coach kept us calm early in the game," said Radcliffe. "We switched some things up, communicated better on defense and started making shots. This was a good win after a tough loss (Friday) night."

Luther North, which made only 6-of-25 shots for 24 percent in the second half, committed 15 turnovers during the final 16 minutes.

Foster led Luther North with 9 points.

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