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Boys Basketball: Elgin rebounds with win over South Elgin
Updated: December 7, 2011 10:27PM
Elgin was all business Wednesday as it took the court for the first time since suffering its first loss of the season.
Determined to avoid another disappointing setback, the Maroons dominated in all phases as they steamrolled host South Elgin 47-25 in Upstate Eight crossover action.
Junior guard Arie Williams poured in a game-high 20 points and senior Kory Brown added 10 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for Elgin (5-1), which was able to ease some of its frustration from last Friday’s triple-overtime loss at Geneva.
“That last game was a real deep cut for our team,” Williams said. “Today we just had to come in here, take care of business and get on to the next win.”
The Storm’s methodic pace set the tempo, but the Maroons proved more than able to beat the hosts at their own game as Elgin’s defense harassed South Elgin from start to finish.
Seven minutes went by in the first quarter before the Storm connected for its first field goal as the Maroons played with the lead the entire game. South Elgin finished with an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers and made only 8-of-32 (25 percent) of its shots from the field.
“We only get one chance at South Elgin since this is technically nonconference and the kids were a little hyped up,” Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. “But defensively we really did what we wanted to do. We shut them down, kept them in the 20s and really limited their shooters.”
Elgin led 19-11 at halftime and used a 13-4 run in the third quarter to push its lead to 37-18. The rout was officially on when the Maroons ripped off 10 straight points in the fourth quarter.
South Elgin (4-3) was without starting guard Willy Gagic, who suffered a broken nose in last Friday’s loss at Waubonsie Valley. Gagic is scheduled to undergo surgery next week and will be sidelined for an indefinite amount of time.
The absence of Gagic left the Storm with one less scoring option for the Maroons to worry about. Sophomore Darius Wells finished with a team-high eight points for South Elgin, which got only five points from junior Jake Maestranzi.
“It’s about leadership,” South Elgin coach Chaz Taft said. “We had a bad practice (Monday) and it translated over to the game. We’re questioning our leadership right now.”
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