Boys Basketball: Elgin repeats as Buffalo Grove tourney champion

Updated: November 26, 2011 9:53PM

Following last year’s success, Elgin made it known that it has lofty expectations this season.

The Maroons have certainly lived up to those expectations during the first week of the season as they claimed the Buffalo Grove Bison Classic title by cruising past Christian Liberty 68-32 on Saturday night. The win marks the second consecutive year Elgin has won the tournament.

“Two years in a row — my brother didn’t do that,” said Elgin junior Arie Williams with a laugh, referring to his brother Armani, a 2008 graduate who starred for the Maroons. “Two years in a row is special. We gotta keep it going. We can’t lay an egg going into Geneva like we did last year.”

Elgin’s bench players started and played the majority of the first quarter, and the result was a fairly close contest as Elgin (4-0) headed into the second quarter up just 12-8.

However, the regular starters entered the game in the second quarter and Elgin outscored the Chargers 25-7 in the frame to head into the break up 37-15.

Williams was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field in the first half, and finished the game 7-of-8 shooting with a game-high 17 points, including three 3-pointers.

“We had an early two-hour practice this morning that woke us up,” Williams said. “We played well defensively and we needed to keep our intensity up.”

Christian Liberty (0-4) also didn’t have an answer for 6-foot-4 forward Kory Brown. The senior scored eight of his 16 points in the second quarter, and finished with 10 rebounds and three steals for a double-double.

Elgin’s bench started the second half, and Christian Liberty took advantage by going on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 39-24. Elgin’s regulars re-entered the game with 3:36 left in the third, and closed out the quarter on a 15-4 run to head into the fourth up 54-28.

“At some point those kids are going to have to contribute in a key game so they got their legs under them today,” said Elgin coach Mike Sitter. “We got everybody in the game today and it helps keep kids fresh who aren’t playing a lot.”

Williams and Brown were the only two to score more than five points for the Maroons as 13 players found the basket.

Elgin finished 24-for-48 (50 percent) from the field, while holding the Chargers to 30 percent (11-for-37) shooting.

“We want to win titles this year,” Sitter said. “We can look back at this tournament at Christmas time and hopefully look at the progress we’ve made.”

Luke Comerouski led Christian Liberty with 12 points.

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