Thomas' career night leads Aurora Christian over St. Edward

It was as if Jaehshon Thomas were still on holiday against the St. Edward boys basketball team Wednesday night in Aurora.

Thomas, a sophomore guard for Aurora Christian, pumped home five 3-pointers in collecting a career-high 26 points in a 66-47 victory.

At the Burney Wilkie Classic, the Eagles' post-Thanksgiving tournament, St. Edward never stood a chance after Aurora Christian scored the opening 12 points of the game and 18 of the first 20 points.

"Our No. 1 thing is defense," said Thomas. "All the coach (Dan Beebe) says is defense first. Our defensive holds were the key."

After Aurora Christian missed its first 5 shots to begin the game, Thomas' opening field goal opened a deluge of opportunities for the Eagles (5-1) as Karsen Olsen and Taaj Davis hit 3-pointers during the game-opening 12-0 burst.

St. Edward, which missed 9 of its 10 first-quarter shots, could manage only an Evan Sajtar putback for its sole output of the quarter.

Backcourt mates Thomas and Davis added a free throw and inside bucket, respectively, to begin the second quarter in culminating the Eagles' 18-2 run to open the game.

Aurora Christian, showing the effects of playing its sixth game in eight days, was reckless with the ball on far too many occasions for Beebe.

But it mattered little as the team sprinted to a comfortable 28-11 cushion at the break.

The second half unveiled a completely different collective persona as the teams' first-half tentativeness was quickly jettisoned.

St. Edward (4-2) finally found some offensive rhythm behind the starting backcourt of Gio Gonnella and David Hill.

The former led the Green Wave with 19 points; Hill added 16 as the duo had all but 12 of the St. Edward total.

"We're such a young team," said Gonnella, who said he barely played as a junior at Schaumburg last season. "We didn't get much varsity experience. (The Eagles) have some really good players."

"I was just trying to compete and help my team as much as I could," Hill said.

But Aurora Christian more than matched the Green Wave second-half offensive renaissance to retain its comfort zone.

Thomas had 16 second-half points by himself.

"I live in the gym and work on my shot," Thomas said. "I have gone from an average shooter to pretty good."

Beebe seconded Thomas' self-assessment.

"He is a gym rat," Beebe said. "He's a kid who is going to continue to get better."

Davis and Lawrence Nyong were also in double figures for Aurora Christian with 10 points apiece.

Will Wolfe (8) and Olsen (7) combined for 15 more points for the Eagles.