St. Charles East survives scare from Streamwood

Falling behind 9-0 in the first 5-plus minutes of action wasn't exactly how St. Charles East's boys basketball team wanted to start Wednesday night's game against Streamwood.

However, after misfiring on their first 6 field-goal attempts, the Saints (16-8, 7-3) grabbed a 26-24 halftime lead and extended it to as many as 10 points early in the fourth quarter on the way to a 59-53 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over the host Sabres (7-22, 0-11).

While 6-foot-5 junior forward Justin Hardy led the way with a game-high 21 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots, the Saints received a significant lift off the bench from 6-foot junior guard Zach Robinson.

Robinson, whose first shot attempt accounted for the Saints' first 2 points of the contest - a jumper off the glass with 2:24 left in the opening quarter - poured in 19 points, added 5 rebounds and supplied the energy the team needed.

"I thought he was good," Saints coach Patrick Woods said of Robinson. "I thought he played well in our last game against Geneva and he had a very good day of practice on Monday. It's just a matter of working on the consistency with him and his confidence."

"It was nice that the first bucket dropped," said Robinson, who connected on his first 5 shots and finished 8 of 12 from the field for the contest. "I finally got my confidence back this game and it should be good from now on."

Back-to-back baskets by Mitchell and a late 3-pointer from sophomore guard Charlie Murphy enabled the Saints to take a 46-38 lead into the final period.

Hardy's second 3-pointer of the game made it 55-47 with 3:35 remaining but senior guard Jason Manalansan (14 points) drained his fourth 3-pointer on the Sabres' next possession to trim the deficit to 55-50.

Junior Brendon Marton (12 points, 11 rebounds) hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 57-53 with 2:22 left but the Sabres misfired on another attempt from beyond the arc in the final minute and a pair of free throws from Robinson with 21 seconds remaining iced it for the Saints.

"I thought we battled hard," said Streamwood coach Paul Kowalyszyn. "This was one of the better executed games on our part that I've seen in a while. Guys were doing the things we've been harping on to do all season."

Junior Phil Cruz had 8 points and 11 rebounds while sophomore Keenan Cole added 8 points and 9 rebounds as the Sabres won the battle on the glass, 40-37.

"We rebounded fairly well," said Kowalyszyn. "It just comes down to the little things."

"Credit Streamwood - they play hard," said Woods. "The rebounding is the disappointing part. We don't play possessions all the way through 'til the end. It's a very bad habit and if we don't fix it soon, it's going to kill us and drive us out of the playoffs."