Tuesday's Fox Valley roundup
Elgin was blitzed from the opening tip at Grayslake Central in an 81-40 nonconference boys basketball defeat Tuesday night.
The Rams (23-7), the outright, undefeated champions of the Fox Division of the Fox Valley Conference, won their 15th straight by outscoring the visiting Maroons 26-10 in the first quarter before holding Elgin to 2 points in the second quarter. Josh Rappaport scored 16 points for the Rams, who led 48-12 at halftime.
"We just didn't get off the bus ready to play," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "They were real physical and we kind of backed down to their physical play, which surprised me because we play in a really physical conference. We just didn't show up today."
Sophomore Kory Brown led Elgin (5-20) with 11 points and sophomore Dennis Moore added 8 points.
"The thing I told the guys in the locker room is that we played the last five minutes of the game like we should have played the first," Sitter said. "We had guys diving all over the floor, we had guys pressuring the ball. I don't know why they can't come out of the locker room and do that in the first five minutes."
Hampshire 51, Richmond-Burton 23: After falling to Big Northern Conference-East foe Richmond-Burton by 2 points earlier this season, the Whip-Purs (16-9, 7-3) wasted little time Tuesday night picking up an easy victory over the division champions. Justin Bieber knocked down seven 3-pointers en route to a game-high 23 points to lead the Whip-Purs while Shyler Ralphs chipped in 8 points.
Prairie Ridge 61, Cary-Grove 48: The Trojans (14-12) trailed 27-16 heading into halftime and could never recover as they were defeated by Prairie-Ridge at home in this Fox Valley Conference crossover matchup. Seniors Matt Jones and Chad McCarron paced the Trojans in double-digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
McHenry 66, Dundee-Crown 61: The Chargers (4-20, 3-7) found themselves behind 52-40 heading into the fourth quarter and their comeback effort fell just short as they were defeated by McHenry in this Fox Valley (Valley Division) contest. Ryan Smith turned in an impressive double-digit performance with 25 points to lead the Chargers while fellow junior Kevin Cronin also added double-figures with 10 points.