Williams on fire, Elgin drops Streamwood

A team effort helped the Elgin boys basketball team to a double-digit lead in the first quarter Friday night.

Arie Williams took care of the second quarter himself.

The Elgin senior scored 20 points in the second quarter, hitting 6 3-pointers in the quarter, as the Maroons built a 28-point lead. The Maroons cruised from there to earn a 55-44 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over Streamwood at Chesbrough Field House.

“I had a 20-point quarter? Whoa,” Williams said. “I guess I was in a flow. (Eric) Sedlack and Ryan (Sitter) kept setting good screens. I just kept shooting the ball and it kept going in.”

Seven different players scored for Elgin (4-2, 1-0) in the first quarter. No one had more than 4 points. Williams started the second quarter by hitting a 3-pointer a minute in and another a minute later.

After the Sabres cut the deficit to 27-13 with 4:50 remaining in the first half, Williams scored the next 14 points of the game. He hit a pair of technical free throws and then hit 4 consecutive 3-pointers in a 2:40 span to give the Maroons a 28-point lead, 41-13.

“If you give him an open look, he’s going to drain it all the time,” Elgin coach Mike Sitter said of Williams, who finished with 28 points and hit 7 3-pointers. “He gets everybody involved and when he’s open he shoots it.”

The Sabres (3-4, 1-2) turned the ball over five times and went 0-for-5 from the field in the opening 5 minutes to fall behind 11-0. Zach Harris’ 3-pointer with 2:48 remaining in the first quarter finally got Streamwood on the board. The Sabres trailed 41-17 at halftime, but came out with some energy in the second half. They cut the deficit to 15, 47-32, after the third quarter.

Elgin just tried to run the clock when it had the ball in the fourth quarter, rarely putting up a shot. The Sabres were able to get within 10 on two occasions in the fourth.

“(Elgin) shot the ball well. We were 0-for-(5) right from the beginning and then we did not rebound the ball very well,” Streamwood coach Tim Jones said. “To the kids’ credit they played a decent second half.”

Vince Williams led the Sabres with 14 points. Harris added 13, 10 in the second half.