Elgin drops Woodstock North for 2nd straight win
The Elgin High boys basketball team has had its share of struggles this season, but on Tuesday the young Maroons took another step in the right direction.
Elgin was able to build a lead then sustain it, something the Maroons haven't done much of this season, in a 62-53 win over Woodstock North in a consolation bracket game of the 65th annual E.C. Nichols Holiday Classic at Homer "Bill" Barry Gymnasium in Marengo.
It's the first time this season the Maroons (4-8) have won back-to-back games and it sets them up for a 9th place contest against Chicago Clark at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. Clark beat Crystal Lake Central 56-55 Tuesday.
"We've got a lot of guys playing varsity basketball that didn't get a lot of minutes last year," said Elgin coach Mike Sitter, who started three juniors. "We haven't played a lot of games with our full roster so we're still finding each other and seeing what we're all about."
On Tuesday, the Maroons were all about junior point guard Desmond Douglas distributing the basketball to his teammates. In keeping with the holiday spirit of giving, Douglas dished out 11 assists, most of them to junior Lavion Baldwin, who scored a game-high 26 points, and to senior Chaquille Bennett, who hit three 3-pointers on his way to 16 points.
"When we're all together we click pretty well and it's fun," said Douglas, who added 7 points including going 4-for-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. "It's nice to have everyone out there and to get some wins."
Elgin jumped ahead of the Thunder 10-0 but Woodstock North got right back in it and kept the game close throughout, although the Maroons never gave up the lead or let the game become tied. Elgin led 29-25 at halftime and North closed to within 1 twice in the third quarter before the Maroons opened up a 6-point lead at 49-43 going into the fourth. The Thunder got to within 3 twice but the Maroons went on a 7-0 run to turn a 53-50 lead into a 60-50 advantage after junior Jakub Zajac scored with 1:30 left in the game.
"In practice we prepare for those situations and finally it came a time to use it and we responded the way we should have," said Douglas, who had 6 of his assists in the first quarter before having to go to the bench with his third foul.
"We could have made some better passes but ultimately we came out with the win."
Elgin shot 23 of 41 for the game and outrebounded the Thunder 31-27, led by 6 from Bennett.
"Chaq Bennett hit some jumpers and that's what he can do for us," said Sitter. "(Douglas) really looks for Lavion and the shooters on the wing. Not a lot of people can guard him one-on-one.
"Good guard play wins in high school basketball and we've been blessed with good guards over the years and Desmond is another of them," said Sitter, noting that former Daily Herald All-Area captain Arie Williams, now playing at Barry University was in the stands Tuesday with former all-area standout Dennis Moore, who just won a Division III national football championship with Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Senior Josh Jandron led Woodstock North (2-8) with 25 points. Freshman Colin Mergl and sophomore Vic Ortiz added 10 each for the Thunder.