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Elgin wins home finale over East Aurora

Elgin's seniors went out in style.

The Maroons overcame deficits in both halves, then survived a wild finish for a 59-58 win against East Aurora.

The Tomcats scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to take a 50-46 lead, but the Maroons answered with their own 10-point run.

Senior Trevon Morris scored 8 of the points during that spurt. He started it with a bucket, but the final 8 points came from the free-throw line. In fact, Elgin's final 11 points of the game came from the line, as they made 11 of 14 attempts in the fourth quarter.

Morris, who connected on 7 of 8 foul shots, led the Maroons with 14 points. Fellow senior Dan Toolsie added 13 points, as did Trey Yarber.

The win was Elgin's first of the year when coming from behind.

"It's the first time they've fought through adversity to come back and get a win," said Elgin coach Mike Sitter. "We've been through a lot of battles this year and sometimes we folded in those battles. This was one time we decided not to fold.

"We became the more aggressive team in the fourth quarter. We did a lot of small things right. We rebounded out of it and got the win."

The Maroons seniors weren't the only ones saying goodbye to Chesbrough Field House. It was also Sitter's final home game as Elgin coach. He is leaving after the school year to become Hampshire's athletic director and he reflected on his time at Elgin High.

"It's nice to know ahead of time that you're done, because you can appreciate the small things as you go," he said. "So I was able to appreciate that this was my last game on this floor. I really appreciate the opportunity Elgin gave me. I've enjoyed every minute I've coached here."

East Aurora scored the first 8 points of the first quarter, but Elgin had the last 11, going up by 3 on Yarber's 3-pointer.

The Maroons went up by as many as 7 in the period, but the Tomcats retook the lead with a quick 8-0 run, the last 5 points coming from Jules Williamson. Elgin grabbed the lead going into halftime on a 3-point play by Xavier Bonds.

Bonds finished with 8 points for Elgin, while Roy Panthier grabbed 8 rebounds to go with 6 points in his final game at Chesbrough.

Davonta Faulkner scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half for East, while Williamson finished with 12.

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