South Elgin staves off Elgin in 2 OTs to reach regional final
Many words could be used to describe South Elgin's boys basketball victory Tuesday night over Elgin. Survived and escaped are a couple.
The only one that matters to the Storm is victory.
No. 1 seed South Elgin needed two overtimes to top No. 5 Elgin, 46-40, in the Class 4A Bartlett regional semifinals.
"We saw Elgin beat St. Charles East (on Monday). Anything can happen. Just survive and advance," South Elgin coach Chaz Taft said. "We have to get back to work (today)."
The Storm (18-9) advances to play the winner of today's game between No. 2 Bartlett and No. 3 St. Charles North in the regional championship game at 7:30 p.m. Friday. South Elgin has never won a regional title.
"It's tough," Storm senior Tommy Childs said of playoff basketball. "It's the first game, everybody was nervous."
Elgin (7-21), which lost to South Elgin by 20 points in January, led by as many as 8, 13-5, and led by 7, 27-20, with just under 2 minutes left in the third quarter. An offensive rebound and putback by the Storm's Dillon Gardner tied the game at 31-31 with 6 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
With the game tied 35-35, the Maroons' Dennis Moore missed a pair of free throws. The Storm held the ball for the rest of regulation. After a timeout with 1.7 seconds left, South Elgin got the shot it wanted, but Sam Sutter's 3-pointer was no good.
In the first overtime, Moore hit a pair of free throws and the Storm's Sheldon Chaney had a basket in the paint for the only points. The Maroons had the ball on the sideline with 27.1 seconds left after a timeout, but a 5-second violation turned the ball over to South Elgin. Sam Jordt's off-balance shot at the buzzer was no good, sending the game to a second overtime tied 37-37.
"That 5-second call was big," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "They denied Arie (Williams) and our other players didn't move. We didn't get the last shot that we planned for."
Childs hit 4 free throws in the first minute and a half of the second overtime to give the Storm a 41-37 lead. The Maroons' Kory Brown hit a long 2-pointer and a free throw to get Elgin within 1, 41-40, with 57.3 seconds left. Childs hit 1 of 2 free throws with 44.2 seconds remaining to give the Storm a 2-point lead, 42-40. Moore missed a runner after a timeout with 20.8 seconds left. That led to a 3-point play from Sutter with 11.3 seconds left to seal the Storm's win.
"I thought our three seniors did a great job. I thought we kept our composure very well," said Sutter, a junior. "We are a young team, but we're talented. I think we can handle this situation, which is good experience for the future"
Childs scored a game-high 15 points. Sutter added 14.
Brown led the Maroons with 11 points and 7 rebounds. Matt Andres finished with nine off the bench. Moore added eight.