Elgin charges back to topple St. Charles North
For the time being, it's a good thing Elgin's Carlos Rodriguez can't block shots.
Had the undersized 6-foot-1 forward been able to, instead of taking a pivotal charge with 13.4 seconds and his team up a point in the Maroons' 69-64 win over St. Charles North at Chesbrough Field House Friday in Upstate River boys basketball action, there's a chance Elgin (6-4, 1-3) doesn't finish its huge comeback.
The Maroons, who led by 8 in third, trailed by 7 with 7 minutes left in the fourth and were down as many as 6 with 1:45 left, needed one stop to glue it all together after Lavion Baldwin split 2 free throws with 19.4 seconds left for a 65-64 lead. Elgin got the stop it needed when Rodriguez made the critical decision to leave his man to his right when Jarod Karom drove the lane. The call led to Desmond Douglas' 2 free throws with 7.8 left and a 3-point Maroons lead.
“I just knew they were going in for a layup so I decided to leave my man last second just to see,” said Rodriguez. “I know I can't block, so I might as well take a charge. I knew what I had to do there.”
Armon Osborne's chance to tie from the top of the key with 1.2 left clanked out, giving North its third-straight loss and Elgin its second-straight win, along with momentum going into Marengo's holiday tournament.
“Carlos does all the dirty work,” Maroons' coach Mike Sitter said. “He's not going to score and he takes charges and gets rebounds and gets everybody organized on defense and that's his job. And he's a senior leader who doesn't get to play a lot, but the kids like having him on the court so hopefully this momentum carries over into (Saturday) and we're all right.”
Which is quite the opposite for North, whose shots wouldn't fall in the final minutes. A 2-for-13 clip from the field mixed in with its decision making (5 turnovers) gave the Maroons life and an 11-0 edge over the final 1:21.
“The last couple minutes we tightened up and shrunk,” North coach Tom Poulin said. “Elgin got real aggressive and I guess I've got to own that. I didn't have these guys prepared to win a basketball game down the stretch. We got better as the game we went on and outperformed (Elgin). They just played better down the stretch and forced turnovers and we made some poor decisions and turned the ball over.”
Anthony Delisi led North with 13 points, while Griffin Hammer had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Kyle King added 10 points and 6 rebounds. North clicked in the third, shooting 9-for-14 and outscored Elgin 21-8 in the final 6 minutes of the quarter, which included 11 second-chance points and 4 offensive rebounds. North outrebounded Elgin 34-23, winning the edge in offensive rebounds 14-13.
But after Osborne (9 points) sank his third trey for a 56-49 lead early in the fourth, Elgin ended the game on a 20-8 run sparked by Reggie Cole, who led all scorers with 20 points, including four 3-pointers.
“Last year they blew us out and we all came in trying to make a difference,” said Cole. “We wanted to make sure it wasn't the same outcome as last year.”
Douglas (9-for-10 from the free-throw line for 9 points) split 2 free throws to cut the lead to 5 with 1:21 left. After a North traveling violation, Cole hit reserve guard Tim Wolf for his third 3-pointer from the top of the key to cut it back to 2 with 1:09 left. Rodriguez's steal led to Cole's tying bucket just inside the right elbow, which gave Elgin a 50 percent quarter from the field and a 46.1 clip in the second half.