West Chicago rolls past South Elgin
With two key starters unable to play, South Elgin knew its Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division first-place showdown with West Chicago would come down to how it handled the Wildcats' full-court defensive pressure.
Unfortunately for the Storm, the absences of Central Michigan University-bound point guard Matty Smith (illness) and 6-foot-9 center Tyler Hankins (injury) came at exactly the wrong time.
West Chicago's 1-2-2 zone press overwhelmed South Elgin (11-10, 3-2) from the outset, sparking the host Wildcats to a 15-point first-quarter edge en route to a 66-45 victory in Bishop Gym. The win gave West Chicago (15-4, 4-1) sole possession of first place in the Valley heading into the second half of the league schedule.
The Wildcats forced 8 South Elgin turnovers in the opening quarter, and three of the miscues led to fastbreak layups for West Chicago, which jumped ahead 10-2 four minutes into the game on a lay-in by senior forward Quinn Ricci. The Wildcats expanded their lead to as much as 15 points on a transition layup and free throw by Tai Bibbs off another steal and entered the second quarter with a 20-7 advantage.
"It was about energy," coach Bill Recchia said. "Our energy was very good. I thought we responded well to our only conference loss the other day to Glenbard East (a 42-40 UEC Valley defeat Jan. 15). The guys were ready to roll, played with intensity, executed on both ends of the floor for the most part and executed our game plan."
"Defensively, our press, they were really struggling with it," senior guard Mikey Bibbs said. "We got a lot of points off steals and layups. We take a lot of pride in our defense."
After a frantic start the Storm settled down in the second quarter, taking better care of the ball and outscoring West Chicago 13-5 to close out the first half trailing only 32-24. Senior forward Quintin McClundon and junior guard Logan Atkins sparked the comeback for coach Jim Cook's squad.
But West Chicago salted the game away with another explosion in the third quarter. A 6-0 spurt capped by an offensive putback by Mikey Bibbs pushed the Wildcats ahead 38-24. A foul-line jumper by Julian Lynch temporarily stemmed the momentum, but West Chicago promptly scored 16 of the next 22 points, mostly off fast break layups and drives and cuts to the basket.
Mikey Bibbs added a pair of 3-pointers, Tai Bibbs tallied eight points off drives to the rim, and Ricci capped the quarter by leaping high to snare a desperation heave that came up short of the rim and turning and tossing it in just before the buzzer. The Storm committed 6 more turnovers in the decisive quarter.
"We got away from our game plan for awhile," Recchia said. "We started settling for outside shots early in possessions instead of making the defense work. In the third quarter we got back to attacking the rim and making sharp, crisp passes inside."
West Chicago hosts Glenbard South on Tuesday in nonconference action before playing Bartlett in a key conference game on Jan. 29 as the second half of the league slate begins.
"We've played every team in the conference so far, and we're a hard team to prepare for," Bibbs said. "It's because we have so many weapons on offense. We're a very deep team, so you have to prepare for all of us. Different guys can step up in any game."
South Elgin should have Smith back for its UEC crossover tilt at Geneva on Tuesday.