No. 1 St. Edward basketball beats No. 18 Gilmour, 83-57 (slideshow, video)

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — The Gilmour boys basketball team gave St. Edward a shot early, but the Eagles responded and used their depth to wear down the Lancers in an 83-57 win Thursday night at St. Edward.

The win was the 10th straight for the Eagles (14-1), ranked No. 1 by cleveland.com and in the Division I state poll. The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak for the Lancers, ranked No. 18 by cleveland.com and No. 5 in the Division III state poll.

The Eagles used consistent defensive pressure to pull away from the Lancers in the third quarter.

“That was what we talked about, try to wear them down,” Eagles forward Kipper Nichols said. “They were making a lot of shots so the main goal was to get stops and convert on offense.”

Nichols finished with a game-high 28 points and nine rebounds. All that despite picking up his third foul in the first half and missing nearly six minutes of game time spanning both halves.

He returned in the third and reeled off a personal 6-0 run, part of a bigger 19-4 run for the Eagles that put the game out of reach. He sat the last five minutes of the game.

“Kipper is a special player,” St. Edward coach Eric Flannery said. “He’s able to create and make me look good at times. It was good to see a guy in foul trouble, yet still playing aggressive and attacking the basket.”

Nichols finished 10 for 14 from the free-throw line.

Marsalis Hamilton added 22 points, and Derek Funderburk had 12 points and nine rebounds off the bench for the Eagles.

Gilmour led, 11-3, four minutes into the game, attacking the interior of the Eagles defense despite St. Edward’s size advantage. Donte Wallette, Colin Zucker and AJ Wright each scored 11 points for the Lancers.

“(Gilmour) was doing a great job of being physical,” Flannery said. “They were banging inside and I just told our guys at halftime, you gotta fight through that.”

The Eagles responded to the early shot with a 12-4 run to end the first quarter tied at 15. St. Edward led 41-34 at the half, then pulled away in the second half by forcing 12 turnovers.

“They were able to handle our pressure early in the game,” Flannery said. “I think the fact that we were able to constantly come after them and kind of wear them down was the biggest difference.”

Contact high school sports reporter Bill Landis by email (blandis@cleveland.com) or Twitter (@blandis25). Or log in and leave a message in the comments section below.