St. Edward guard Kelvin Cortez-Harvey has elevated his offensive game to a record-breaking level.
However, St. Edward remains bogged down by the same lack of scoring help for Cortez-Harvey as at the beginning of the season.
Cortez-Harvey scored 29 points Tuesday, but host St. Edward couldn’t keep up with Timothy Christian down the stretch in a 65-59 Metro Suburban Red loss.
“Those guys aren’t old enough to really know about Michael Jordan, but Michael Jordan couldn’t win by himself,” St. Edward coach PJ White said. “When Kelvin is on, and maybe one or two others are scoring, that’s how we’re winning games.”
Cortez-Harvey, a 5-foot-11 senior, had a school-record effort of 44 points Saturday against Chicago Christian. Since the start of 2017, he has averaged 31.4 points but St. Edward hasn’t capitalized.
“We have to play with a chip on our shoulder at the end,” Cortez-Harvey said. “We were hanging with them, and we have to play a full game.”
St. Edward (9-13, 3-4) trailed 46-45 against Timothy Christian (12-6, 5-2) starting the fourth quarter. Then Liam Jackson and Sidney Muhammad made a basket each for the Green Wave, and Cortez-Harvey produced 10 points. No one else scored.
“Stuff wasn’t going in for us, so I was just trying to get quick buckets and forced up some shots,” Cortez-Harvey said.
AJ Franklin and Jackson finished with 11 each, but Timothy Christian seized command by outscoring the Green Wave 10-2 to start the fourth quarter.
“Our coach says if he’s a one-man show, then everyone stops to watch,” Franklin said.
Defense was a St. Edward problem, as well. The Green Wave allowed 12 of Brandon Orange’s team-high 19 points in the second half, and in the fourth quarter Timothy Christian made seven layups.
“We stood around on defense,” White said. “Nobody hustled. Nobody worked hard.”
White called Cortez-Harvey and guard Will Gaston exceptions.
Despite being 5-9, Gaston pulled down eight rebounds against taller Timothy Christian.
“I tell you, if everybody would play like Will, if everybody would play with his heart and his tenacity, then we beat that team,” White said. “We’d beat a lot of teams. Will’s going up there to get rebounds with the big guys and our big guys are standing over there and watching.”
The loss was the Green Wave’s third straight. St. Edward lost in Cortez-Harvey’s record-setting game, 78-69 to Chicago Christian.
“I was hitting open shots that night and I drew a lot of foul calls that game,” Cortez-Harvey said. “Everything was open, the lane was open. It was a good night. Once I saw 40 on the board, I was like, ‘Wow.’ “
Now the Green Wave would just like a few big efforts from others.
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“Kelvin’s a four-year guy with a lot of confidence in his game,” White said. “The other guys are younger and have confidence in practice. But they don’t have it in the games yet and that’s what they need.”
Twitter @genechamberlai2