Marian Central stops Elgin's streak

After coming off a consolation championship and riding a three-game win streak to end 2014, the Elgin boys basketball team looked to build upon that momentum into the New Year.

Unfortunately the Maroons ran into the bigs of Marian Central Catholic and took a 73-58 loss at Chesbrough Fieldhouse in Elgin on Saturday afternoon.

Lavion Baldwin came out shooting for the Maroons (5-9), taking 8 shots in the first quarter and hitting on half of them for 9 points, helping give Elgin its only lead of the day early in the game at 5-2.

But Marian Central countered with a big quarter of its own as Nick Waytula scored 10 points, all from inside the paint. Waytula set the stage for what the Hurricanes would do throughout the game with that big quarter - score from close to the basket and get rebounds.

"We have issues defending and rebounding, and you can see why we lost today," Maroons coach Mike Sitter said. "We lost both of those battles. They played better defense than us and they out-rebounded us. We scored enough points to win a high-school basketball game today."

Marian Central out-rebounded the Maroons 25-13, with Waytula grabbing 6 for the game and added 15 points as well. The Hurricanes defense also caused 9 turnovers in the first half, with 5 coming in the first quarter leading to an early 17-13 lead.

In the second the scoring was more scattered for the Maroons. Baldwin got 4 points in the quarter on his way to a team-high 17, but still had trouble driving to the rim and settled for too many jump shots.

"We are a smaller team and we can shoot it pretty well. We kind of live and die with the jump shot," Sitter said. "But we would like to spread them out a little bit more, and that's on me to get them to go to the rim more."

Meanwhile the Hurricanes (7-7) had posts Sam Ohlrich and Matt Ricchuito take over for Waytula in the second quarter. They combined for 11 points and helped their team to a 34-25 halftime lead.

After the break the Maroons did start finishing closer to the rim and were rewarded with 8 trips to the free throw line, with Chaquille Bennett (7 points) going 4-for-4.

But another big quarter for the Hurricanes stopped any momentum for Elgin. It was Ohlrich's turn to take over on the floor, scoring 11 points in the quarter alone. He would finished with a game-high 22 along with 7 rebounds.

Down 52-42 going into the fourth, Desmond Douglas (13 points) and Mike Miller (8 points) tried to spark their team with a furious rally late, but one last big man in Ricchutio (17 points, 10 in the fourth quarter) stepped up for the Hurricanes to counter and extend their lead at the end.