St. Edward storms past ACC in 2nd half
With about a month remaining in the regular season, St. Edward's basketball team appears to be hitting its stride.
A few days after giving Wheaton Academy (14-5) a major scare in a 55-53 loss, the Green Wave (12-12) put together one of their best halves of the season during Wednesday night's 61-44 Metro Suburban Conference crossover victory over Aurora Central Catholic in Aurora.
Trailing 28-24 at halftime, the Green Wave outscored the Chargers 37-16 over the final 16 minutes to secure the double-digit triumph.
"I think it was a carryover from our game with Wheaton Academy last weekend," said St. Edward coach Andy Zielinski. "We lost by two points but it was a big improvement over our first game when they drilled us (63-19).
"Our defense has been really good the last few games but we haven't been hitting our shots," said Zielinski. "Tonight, I think our shots fell. You've got to look for what's open and be patient."
Senior guard David Hill helped ignite the second-half comeback.
Hill, who finished with 19 points and 3 steals, converted on a 3-point play and added another inside bucket in the first 35 seconds of the third quarter as the Green Wave grabbed the lead for good at 29-28.
Junior teammate J.P. McGuire (6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) scored the next 4 points and sophomore guard Erik Hill (14 points) added a short baseline jumper during an 11-0 run that extended St. Edward's lead to 35-28.
"We just got in a groove in the second half," said David Hill. "I think our defense was a big part of it. We held them (the Chargers) to 16 (second-half points). That's pretty huge."
Aurora Central Catholic (3-14) scored 6 of the final 8 points of the third quarter to pull within 42-36 before the Green Wave limited the Chargers to just 4 points over the final 5-plus minutes.
"Defensively, we're a pretty good team," said Zielinski. "We're tough. We're not very big but the kids fight for rebounds."
Senior guard Daniel Parks shared scoring honors with 19 points and 7 rebounds as the Green Wave avenged a 56-46 loss to ACC back on Dec. 1 at the Burney Wilkie Tournament.
"We were up at halftime in that game and it probably was one of our worst halves of the season - and then we followed that up with the (44-point) loss to Wheaton Academy," said Zielinski. "We're a much better team now than we were then."
Jonas Cebulski paced the Chargers with 9 points and 11 rebounds, while Donovan Grunloh and Colin Dean added 7 points apiece.
Junior forward Aidan Franklin came off the bench to grab 5 rebounds and block a pair of shots for the Green Wave.
"I'm so proud of the kids," said Zielinski. "We've gone through a lot of ups and downs but I think we'll be a tough out in the regional wherever we go."