STEVE GOLDMAN
WILLOUGHBY HILLS — The Edgewood boys played well defensively from the beginning on Saturday night. And when they got past their first-half foul problems and Sean Butler got into his offensive rhythm, everything came together.
Butler, the senior post, poured in 18 of his 23 points in the second half, as the Warriors pulled away to a 61-40 victory at Cornerstone Christian Academy.
“I thought we played really well defensively,” Edgewood coach Kevin Andrejack whose team’s record rose to 7-5, said. “We did a little too much reaching defensively and it got some of our bigs in foul trouble in the first half, which I think slowed us down offensively. But we were able to withstand those problems and continue to get stops defensively.”
Despite the foul problems, which saw five Edgewood players pick up two personals in the first half, the Warriors, who never trailed, were able to use a 12-2 spurt to break a 16-all tie and go into the locker room ahead 28-18. Point guard Marcus Harmon (5 assists, 5 steals) helped to keep things under control, as he tallied 10 of his 13 points before intermission, while the Patriots also saw three boys struggle with fouls.
Butler, who also pulled down 11 rebounds, then helped to put the game away. Eventually an 11-0 run, with Butler netting seven, pushed it to 53-28 in the middle of the fourth quarter.
“I thought (Butler) had a couple really good looks in the first half and just didn’t finish them,” Andrejack said. “Then he got into foul trouble and had to sit there in the first half and just never got himself into a rhythm in the first half. When he is in a rhythm, you can tell we’re a different basketball team offensively.”
All of which helped to make the Cornerstone coach a “Dan Selle in distress.”
“I think coach Andrejack was effective in his man-to-man defense,” Selle said. “But he played his 3-2 zone most of the night, and it totally took us out of what we wanted to do. They’re a very talented team from top to bottom. It was a learning experience for us tonight, and I can’t say enough about the coaching job that he did.
“Their wings in the 3-2 zone are just so interruptive to trying to run your offense. They get in the passing lanes so well and just kind of shut down what you want to do, and dictated the tempo for the game. We didn’t find a way to figure that out tonight. I think that this was a great team that we played and it was a learning experience for our boys and for our coaches.”
The Patriots (9-4) hit just 30.2 percent of their shots (13-of-43) and suffered 23 turnovers to 17 for the Warriors. Tim O’Leary led them with 11 points. He nailed seven-of-eight free throws, but his teammates converted just six-of-15.
Ben Hemingway had eight points and 10 rebounds for Cornberstone, while Eliseo Hairston also scored eight points. Derrick Coy had eight points and seven rebounds for Edgewood, which had a 40-31 edge on the glass.
Goldman is a freelance writer from South Euclid.
