St. Edward’s Season Ended by Garfield Heights

It may have been the day before St. Patrick's Day, but the Eagles didn't have too much luck against Garfield Heights in the regional semifinal game Wednesday night.

After a stellar season, the Eagles' playoff hopes were dashed when they were defeated, 79-72, at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center.

The contest started innocently enough for St. Edward — much as the game in the previous round — with the Eagles leading Garfield Heights after a quarter on the strength of several three point shots, this time two of them came from junior Myles Hamilton and one from senior Delbert Love.

At times, the Eagles made it look easy.

In what looked as though it could be a telling basket for the Eagles, junior Mark Murray spun around a Garfield Heights defender and put the ball through the hoop. It looked like it could potentially be that kind of night for St. Ed’s, who finished the season at an impressive 18-6, including two losses to .

The Bulldogs, however, had other ideas.

Garfield Heights’ senior center Mike McQueen established himself in the paint early, manhandling the Eagles’ front line. McQueen finished with 19 points on 7 of 11 from the field, with 8 rebounds.

It was smothering defense early that kept the Bulldogs in the game, followed by the ability of the combination of sophomore Tony Farmer, junior Terrell Byrd and senior Trey Lewis consistently breaking the full court pressure of the Eagles that enabled the Bulldogs to put the game away.

"They did a great job of handling our pressure throughout most of the game," said St. Edward head coach Eric Flannery. "I thought we just missed a lot of easy shots. We didn't execute that well tonight."

Farmer finished the game with 19 points, Lewis with 14 and 8 assists. Off the bench, Mike Davis finished with 10 points.

 The Eagles were now seeing something they had not seen very much during the season: a deficit.

As if to rub salt in the wounds of the Eagles, Lewis found Farmer for a high-flying, emphatic slam dunk.

The Eagles, in true St. Edward fashion, never gave up.  

Just as the Eagles faced what looked to be an insurmountable Bulldogs’ lead, Love stepped up, hitting a clutch three pointer late in the third to help key a 9-0 run to make things interesting headed into the final quarter.

For the game, Love hit 5 of his 8 three point attempts and led the way with a game-high 28 points. Other leaders were Hamilton, with 16 and sophomore Elijah Brown with 13.

In the final quarter, the Bulldogs slowed down their attack and bruised their way to 9 different trips to the free throw line, effectively icing the game, as the Eagles’ offense went cold, hitting one basket in the first 3 minutes and 20 seconds of the quarter.

In the end, the Eagles battled down to the wire, but it was not enough, as Garfield Heights, now 23-1, moves on to face the winner of the Mentor-Berea matchup later in the evening.

"You have to give credit to Garfield," Flannery added. "They were physical. They were big. They weren't letting us run a whole lot. You've just got to give them the credit."

He said it was a difficult night for his squad — but mostly for the seniors on the team who have played their last game as an Eagle.

"They left everything out there on the floor," he said. "They have nothing to be ashamed of."

                                                Q1          Q2          Q3          Q4          FINAL

Garfield Heights                19           16           23           21           79

St. Edward                          20           9              21           22           72

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