Elgin rolls to an easy win

Things are going well when your team scores 30 points in the third quarter. Things are going really well when this gives your team a 30-point lead and everyone gets a chance to play.

"Today was a game where we wanted to get playing time for those who haven't had a lot of playing time," said Elgin coach Mike Sitter.

Mission accomplished. The 13 Maroons who saw action kept the scoreboard operators at Buffalo Grove plenty busy on Friday night as they rolled over Holy Trinity, 87-57 at the Bison Classic boys basketball tournament. Elgin (2-1) returns to Buffalo Grove tonight to face Lakes at 6 p.m.

Senior Armani Williams drained four 3-pointers and made his game-high 24 points look effortless as he led five Maroons in double-figures.

"Our main goal was to keep playing our game and let the other people that needed to play, play," said Williams, reiterating the first-year head coach's mantra.

But before he spent the entire fourth quarter cheering on his teammates from the bench, Williams did plenty of damage on the court. The senior, who hit 60 3-pointers in an all-area junior campaign, scored 10 of the Maroons' first 14 points, and added 12 more in third quarter.

While Holy Trinity received solid efforts from Cavell Williams (20 points) and senior Vernon Young (18 points, 15 rebounds), Elgin's guard play was just too strong for the Tigers (0-4). Senior Jeremy Granger, fresh off a 31-point outing against Stevenson on Tuesday, added 14 points, and Tom Roth, a junior, led the Maroons' bench charge with four 3-pointers and 15 points. He scored 10 of those points, which included three 3-pointers, during a 21-3 third-quarter run.

"Roth can do a lot of things -- he's really good for a junior," said Williams, who combined with Roth and Granger to score all 30 of Elgin's third-quarter points.

Senior Gustave Herrera scored 10 off Elgin's bench, including a rim-rattling dunk in the fourth quarter, and starting center D'Angelo Stewart (9 rebounds) was impressive, tallying all 10 of his points in the first half. The 6-foot-6 senior worked over Holy Trinity's defenders with a nice variety of pump fakes, drop steps and hook shots. Not to mention some on-target passing.