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Boys Basketball: Elgin escapes DeKalb behind Kory Brown
| Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media |
Updated: February 7, 2012 9:25PM
The long faces worn by Elgin’s players and coaches Tuesday at DeKalb told the story of the game’s first three quarters rather than the end of the Maroons’ nonconference win over the Barbs.
Arie Williams dished back to Kory Brown, who hit a 5-footer driving shot at the edge of the lane for the game-winning points in a 50-48 victory that prevented the Maroons’ first three-game losing streak since the 2009-10 season.
“We shouldn’t have to make it come down to the wire,” Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. “You don’t want to have it come down to a bad bounce or a referee’s call. We should have taken care of business much earlier in the game.
“No offense against DeKalb because (coach) Dave Rohlman does a great job, but we’re a much better team than they are and we’re more than two points better. Next year it may be different. When they had (center Jordan) Threloff they pounded us — they were the better team. We should have pounded them tonight and we didn’t do it.”
Instead, Elgin had to overcome a 10-point deficit midway through the third quarter. Then the Maroons (17-3) missed a handful of big fourth-quarter free throws, and pulled it out when Brown’s short jumper with 3.3 seconds remaining fell through the net and DeKalb’s Brian Sisler missed a running, one-hand three-pointer at the buzzer.
“I think that long bus ride kind of got to us a little bit,” said Williams, who finished with 16 points. “I think we can’t come out with that low of intensity.”
Brown finished with a team-high 17 points and had to play the final 5:54 with four fouls. He scored seven fourth-quarter points.
“In our place we like to get aggressive,” Brown said. “We’re used to being real aggressive on defense, but we have to adjust.
“I got four fouls and coach trusted me enough to keep me in through the quarter. He just told me to keep my hands off, and I played my man at the three-point line and didn’t let him get to the hole.”
DeKalb (9-14), which had gone on a 19-2 run in the second and third quarters to gain a 10-point lead, had 6-foot-7 post player Andre Harris foul out with 3:06 left after scoring eight second-half points. It had a big impact on the Barbs’ offense at game’s end.
Dan Matya, who had a game-high 18 points, sank two foul shots with three minutes left to put the Barbs up for the last time, 46-45. Williams made a driving layup to give Elgin the lead.
Brown missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:45 remaining that could have given Elgin a 49-46 lead. After a DeKalb traveling call forced by Cortez Scott’s defense, Williams had two foul shots and made only one for a 48-46 lead, but the Barbs’ Jake Carpenter rebounded a shot that Brown blocked, and put it back in to tie the score and Elgin called timeout to set up the game-winning shot.
“Our play was set to a zone,” Williams said, after the Barbs spent virtually all game long in a zone. “But when we saw they came out in man to man, we knew what we had to do offensively. As point guard, I know I have to get my other teammates the ball. Kory, being my main player, he was right there and I gave him the pass and he finished it at the hole.”
Elgin had eight points from Gerardo Mojica before he fouled out early in the fourth quarter. Sisler had nine for DeKalb.
“We have to get back on track,” Williams said. “It’s starting to get to the crunch time of the season and we have to be on focus.”
Added Sitter: “We play in spurts. We score 11 straight, then we give up eight straight. We can’t do that. Teams that want to play deep into March don’t do that. Right now we’re not one of those teams.”
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