by COPLEY, Ohio– St. Ed’s used a balanced attack of speed and ball movement that helped get them an early lead that never went away Thursday night. Head coach Eric Flannery credits his guys for the way they bought into the game plan and scouting of Avon, as they ended up defeating the Eagles 77-45.
“Tonight, I’m just proud of my guys,” Flannery said. “Watching Avon on film and seeing them, we didn’t expect to win like this, we expected it to be a battle and a game of pace. I thought we did a good job of speeding the game up in the first half and I think we just kind of wore them down in the second half.”
St. Ed’s got off to a fast start thanks to the shooting from senior forward Wendell Henry. The Eagles never trailed during Thursday night’s game and in the opening four minutes of the game, Henry already had 10 of his team’s 17 points.
@SEHS_BASKETBALL gets out to an early 12-2 lead following this 3-pointer from Joey Scarpitti.
Wendell Henry has 7 points so far for the Eagles. @SportsKee1 pic.twitter.com/PePLaEs6OE— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) March 8, 2024
His team jumped out to a 17-4 lead, leaving Avon struggling for answers on the other end. Once the game started to slow down a little bit. Avon was able to settle into its offense some more which helped them as the stout defense from Flannery’s bunch made it extremely tough for Avon to even set up its offense throughout the first quarter.
End of 1st: St. Ed’s 24, Avon 12. @SportsKee1 pic.twitter.com/ZMCVXFH21F
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) March 8, 2024
After Henry got off to a scorching start for his team, it was his teammate Ricky Bussey who headlined a strong second quarter to pace his team. Once they were able to run through some of their sets offensively, Bussey often found himself in a one-on-one situation where he took full advantage to get to the rim.
In fact, he ended the first half with a team-high 11 points. Just when you thought Avon looked like they were going to go down big, there was Zane Austin to hit an outside jumpsuit to squash any momentum the other way. Avon outscored St. Ed’s 8-3 in the final four minutes of the first half where they headed into halftime trailing 41-27.
Despite his team-leading comfortably at the break, Flannery thought his team could’ve ended the first half on a higher note.
“I thought we finished the first half terribly,” Flannery explained. “The adjustment was I thought we were gambling way too much defensively in the second quarter and we just needed to be more solid…I think (Avon) had a hard time just beating us one-on-one.”
HALFTIME: @SEHS_BASKETBALL leads Avon 41-27. @SportsKee1
Ricky Bussey has 11 pts to pace St. Ed’s.
Zane Austin has a game-high 15 pts for Avon. @ZaneA1410 pic.twitter.com/3kRhDoQe10— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) March 8, 2024
His team answered any doubts to start the second half. It took Avon six minutes to score its first points of the second half as turnovers and missed defense assignments created plenty of open opportunities for St. Ed’s to close the game out.
Flannery’s team held a 16-4 scoring advantage in the third quarter alone to push their lead to 57-31 heading into the fourth quarter, putting the game well out of reach for a struggling Avon team.
Avon would end up getting outscored 36-18 in the second half, as Zane Austin led the way for his team with a team-high 18 points. Nathan Farley added 11 points during the loss as well.
For St. Ed’s, Henry paced all scorers with 19 points along with 15 from Bussey and 10 points from Max McClellan.
It was a convincing win for his team as they’re now one step closer to yet another regional appearance. The only team in the way is a Brunswick team that’s been one of the best teams in the area all season long.
“I think we have to take advantage of our depth a little bit,” Flannery said about the matchup coming up on Saturday. “But we have to be aggressive…It’s going to come down to us just being solid defensively.”
