Elgin hangs on to move to 3-0

So far, so good, for the Elgin boys basketball team.

And yet, that might not be good enough for Maroons' coach Mike Sitter.

After finishing 6-24 a year ago, the Maroons improved to 3-0 on the 2015-16 campaign Wednesday, beating Chicago Schurz 56-53 in the West Chicago Wildcat Turkey Classic.

But Sitter offered a stern countenance postgame, and perhaps for good reason. Elgin had a 51-43 lead with 5:27 left in the game, only to see the Bulldogs rally with a 10-1 run that gave them a 53-52 advantage at 1:04.

However, they wouldn't score again, and the Maroons capped the victory with a layup by senior guard Desmond Douglas and a pair of free throws in the final 27 seconds.

"We're up 51-43 and we've got to learn how to win," Sitter said. "We didn't win a lot of games last year and we got tight at the end, and our best players started doing odd things with the ball because they weren't in that situation a lot last year, so that's something we need to work on."

Of course, Elgin got a fair amount of help from Schurz, which went 1-for-7 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and 11-for-26 in the game. The Bulldogs also went 1-for-9 from beyond the 3-point arc, including a desperation attempt by Ethan Rodriguez as time expired that landed in Cooper's hands.

Elgin didn't fare much better at the free throw line, going 12-for-20 (60 percent) and 4-for-8 in the critical fourth quarter. The Maroons shot 38 percent from the field (19-for-49), including just 31 percent (9-for-29) in the first half in part due Schurz's zone defense, which resulted in a 25-22 halftime deficit.

But after the 10-minute halftime, Douglas put the Maroons on his back.

He put together a personal 8-0 run between the 4:50 and 3:30 marks of the third quarter, including a 3-pointer from the left arc that helped give his team a 46-40 advantage at the end of the period.

A pair of layups by junior Reggie Cole and a free throw by Keshawn Baldwin staked the Maroons to that 51-43 lead with 5:27 to go.

But Schurz roared back with its 10-1 run, highlighted by a layup off a miss by Kendall Mathis, and then a layup off a steal by Kyndell Bell on Elgin's ensuing possession. Mathis capped that run with another layup with 1:04 to go, giving the Bulldogs a 53-52 lead.

Douglas then reappeared with a driving layup with 27 seconds left. And when Schurz's Marquis Rushing missed a layup attempt that Cooper rebounded, he was fouled and coolly sank both shots to set the final score.

"I was happy with our second half," Sitter said. "We settled for way too many jumpers in the first half. They packed in the zone and let us have too many jumpers, and in the second half we did a better job of scoring in transition and working the ball inside out."

Despite areas for improvement, Douglas said the victory was important in context of its first two tournament games, blowout wins over Holy Trinity and Chicago Douglass.

"The first two games we were up by 30 and just having fun," Douglas said. "Now we actually were challenged and at first we didn't respond correctly, we kept turning the ball over, giving them momentum, but towards the end, I kind of calmed the team down and got them together."

Sitter liked what he saw from Douglas.

"Desmond Douglas showed a lot of senior leadership by taking charge in the huddle and on the court, which was good to see," he said. "He can set other people up. It's not all about him. He's quick, strong with the ball and makes good decisions."

Elgin outrebounded Schurz 24-23 and was led by Cooper with 5 boards. Jaland Mitchell led the Bulldogs with a double-double - 19 points and 11 rebounds.