Inside No. 8 St. Edward boys basketball's 76-60 win against No. 5 Garfield Heights: Top plays, stats, reaction (slideshow, video)

GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio — St. Edward's boys basketball team relied on balanced scoring and an 18-3 second quarter run to defeat host Garfield Heights, 76-60, on Tuesday.

Kipper Nichols led the Eagles, 7-3 and ranked No. 8 in the cleveland.com Top 25, with 25 points. He took a shot in the right eye during the fourth quarter, but came back into the game after a short rest and finished the game.

The Eagles ended the first half on an 18-3 run to turn a 21-15 lead into a 39-18 score at the half. All five St. Edward starters scored in double figures.

"I think we're starting to get confident," St. Edward coach Eric Flannery said. "Everything should come from our defense. And it started to come from our defense tonight."

Willie Jackson led No. 5 Garfield Heights (9-2) with 18 points.

What it means

St. Edward has now won three straight games to start 2015. The Eagles held Garfield Heights to only 18 points in the first half and forced 16 turnovers for the game.

After a 9-0 start, the Bulldogs have lost back-to-back games and struggled to hit outside shots for most of the night.

Garfield Heights started attacking the basket more in the second half, resulting in 42 points in the final two quarters to try and rally.

Play of the game

Shortly after returning into the game after he got hit in the right eye, Nichols made a spin move and drove hard to the basket, finishing with a ferocious one-handed dunk with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter.

Critical run

St. Edward ended the first half with an 18-3 run in the final 4:57 of the half. The run gave the Eagles a 21-point halftime lead and Garfield Heights never got the lead down to single digits.

Who stood out for St. Edward

Mike Ryan: The senior forward helped St. Edward control the glass on both ends of the floor. He had 11 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

Sean Flannery: The son of the coach, he hit a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter and finished with 10 points. His second 3-pointer of the second quarter ignited the Eagles' 18-3 run.

Who stood out for Garfield Heights

Raymel Franklin: The senior forward showed some range on his jumper, hitting three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and finishing with 16 points.

Frankie Hughes: He had a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.

St. Edward sound bites

Nichols on his fourth-quarter dunk: "I took out a little aggression there on that. I found an open lane and I saw it so I took it."

Eric Flannery on Nichols' eye: "He got hit and that's scary. Anytime a young man gets hit in the face or in the head and he goes down, you worry right away that he's going to be all right. But he'll be fine."

Garfield Heights sound bites

Garfield Heights coach Sonny Johnson: "I just think we weren't making shots. It's the same as last game (vs. Shaker Heights). We've got to take better shots. That's something I've got to make sure that's being done. That's coaching."

What's next

St. Edward at the Burger King Classic in Erie, Pa., Friday and Saturday.

Garfield Heights at No. 12 Brunswick, Friday, 7:30 p.m.