Westminster claims own tourney title

Bruce Firchau

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ELGIN -- Turnabout was fair play at the Westminster Christian Thanksgiving Tournament on Saturday.

A year ago St. Edward narrowly edged the host Warriors for the title. This year, Westminster returned the favor with a 44-42 win over the Green Wave to finish the tournament undefeated at 4-0.

"With as young and inexperienced as we are, if you would have told me that we'd finish this week 4-0 I would have raised my eyebrows," said Westminster coach Bruce Firchau. "But the more I watched how we play defense the more I was impressed. I see a lot of potential for us to surprise some people this season."

The Warriors held St. Edward to just 15 of 51 (29 percent) shooting from the field, while sophomore Ian Dutcher and Ben Carani gave the Warriors just enough offense with 11 points each.

Carani's 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the third quarter gave Westminster the lead for good at 31-28. Carani also had a big 3-pointer and a pair of free throws early in the fourth quarter as Westminster increased its lead to 36-30 despite having Dutcher and starting forward Ryan Beachler on the bench in foul trouble.

Dutcher came back later in the quarter to contribute a big three-point play, which put Westminster up 39-34 with 3:05 left. Beachler, who had nine points, hit 3 of 4 clutch free throws down the stretch and once again played outstanding defense.

"This is a huge win for us," said Beachler. "It's a (morale) booster, it's a chemistry booster. We played great defense all week. If we can play defense like this all season we'll win a lot of games."

St. Edward (3-1) pulled to within 43-42 with 16 seconds left on a 3-pointer from Josh Dix. The senior had a chance to put the Wave up with 1.6 seconds left, but his 3-pointer was off the mark. St. Edward had one last opportunity when Troy Koessl stole the ensuing inbound pass at halfcourt, but his desperation shot at the buzzer sailed wide of the backboard.

"We had our chances," said St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek. "We just didn't take advantage. We seemed to be rushing things at the end. But it's early in the season and that's gonna happen. We were a little out of sync."

Steve Martin came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points in the second half to lead the Wave. Riley Coleman added 10 points. Dutcher and Joe Vanden Bos were named to the all tournament team for Westminster. Coleman and Dix were named to the all-tournament team for St. Edward.

Immaculate Conception 56, Elgin Academy 44 -- The Hilltoppers had a 24-20 lead early in the third quarter but faltered down the stretch. Javon McDonald, who was named to the all-tournament team, led Elgin Academy with 18 points.

"Javon had a great week," said Hilltoppers coach Everette Stephens. "All the other coaches were coming up to me telling me they would like to have him as their point guard."