CLEVELAND — St. Edward Varsity Basketball team rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat St. Ignatius, 55-54, Wednesday night in Cleveland.
The Eagles entered the fourth quarter down 46-40, but the Wildcats drove St. Edward into a greater deficit as the final quarter went on.
With less than four minutes to play, St. Edward was down 11 points and it seemed as though the game might be a wrap.
But the game began to turn after sophomore Wendell Henry sank a pair of free throws to bring the Eagles to within nine points, 54-45.
After a defensive stand on the other side of the court, St. Edward senior Michael Bova made two free throws of his own to continue closing the deficit to seven points and make it 54-47.
With just over three minutes, the Eagles needed a stop. After a timeout to reset, senior Jair Knight hit a corner three to put St. Edwards within five.
Down just four points, another defensive stop by the Eagles gave them possession. Moving the ball around to look for a shot, the Wildcats stole the ball back with just over a minute to play. But the Eagles took advantage of two missed shots and got the rebound. A pass to Bova turned into a bank shot three to close the deficit to a single point.
In a one-score game with under a minute left in the game, the Eagles put on the defensive pressure once again, getting a steal and finding the ever-clutch Bova, who made the game-winning shot with only 17 seconds left.
A missed shot from the Wildcats was rebounded by senior Zyion Freer-Brown to seal the come-from-behind Eagles victory.
The 9-2 Eagles will look to ride the momentum from the final quarter of Wednesday's game as they take on Lutheran East in a Friday night away game.
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