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Cortez-Harvey leads St. Edward past Aurora Central

Kelvin Cortez-Harvey used the waning seconds of the third quarter as an allegorical statement Friday night in Aurora.

For the second time in the St. Edward Metro Suburban West boys basketball game against Aurora Central Catholic, Cortez-Harvey pickpocketed an unsuspecting ACC ballhandler and went the other way for an uncontested layup.

When the St. Edward junior guard finished his field goal to end the third quarter, Cortez-Harvey was in the midst of a monster second half.

Cortez-Harvey scored 29 of his game-high 34 points after halftime to lead St. Edward to a 68-56 victory.

"I just saw (the ACC player) player turn his head and I went from behind him," Cortez-Harvey said of his field goal that gave the Green Wave a 42-30 lead after three quarters. "Offensively and defensively, I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help us win a game."

ACC (12-11, 4-4) tried to make inroads in the final quarter, but St. Edward (14-11, 4-7) was able to stave off any potential threat for two fundamental reasons.

The final quarter was a parade to the free-throw line for both teams, who combined for 43 attempts.

The Green Wave converted 20 of its 31 attempts during the span.

Aurora Central Catholic also had two players cited for technical fouls in the final minutes; the Green Wave parlayed the resulting twin possessions into 9 points.

Cortez-Harvey had the only Wave field goal of the fourth quarter but still managed to augment his 14-point third quarter with 15 more in the last.

"We got down and had to pressure them," ACC coach Nate Drye said. "(Cortez-Harvey) is better than anyone we have, so he went right around us. You can't play from behind against them; you have to play from ahead."

Cortez-Harvey burned the Chargers' man defense either off the dribble, with midrange jump shots and from the perimeter as well.

The other revelation for the Green Wave was Sean Phelan, who dominated inside with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

"I just watched the ball off the rim, seeing how it was going to bounce," Phelan said of his 8 first-half rebounds, including half off the offensive glass. "They weren't boxing out that well. We had a big win against Glenbard South (on Tuesday), so this was like another step forward."

"We didn't react when they shot it (in the first half)," Drye said. "We weren't ready to go tonight - and that's on me."

The low-scoring first two quarters - St. Edward led 22-17 at the break - turned into a much greater offensive show in the second half.

ACC never lead after the opening minutes, but the Chargers did have nice offensive showings from Brett Czerak and Evan Shuetz.

Czerak had four 3-pointers in scoring a team-high 20 points; Shuetz added 19 for ACC.

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