S. Elgin 46, Lake Park 38

This was a victory that didn't feel like one.

The South Elgin boys basketball team Friday night shot only 40 percent from the free-throw line, failing to put away Lake Park, until late in the fourth quarter as the Storm beat the Lancers, 46-38, in South Elgin.

"In my eyes, we don't deserve to win," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "We can't have too many of these where we miss that many free throws, miss that many box outs and still come away with a victory."

South Elgin (3-2, 1-0 Upstate Eight) was able to overcome its 8-for-20 free-throw shooting by holding the Lancers to 32 percent shooting and forcing 21 turnovers.

The Storm led 16-13 at halftime despite missing 7 of 8 free throws. But Lake Park (2-3, 0-1) wasn't much better as the Lancers turned the ball over 12 times and shot 4-for-14 in the first half.

Lake Park didn't hit its first field goal until there was 1 minute remaining in the first quarter when Trent Patterson hit a free-throw line jumper to tie the game at 6-6.

"They took us out of our offense," Lancers coach Cray Allen said. "We've got to learn to get open."

The Lancers came out of halftime with a designed play for Danny Baylis, who hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to tie the game at 16-16. Lake Park eventually took its first lead since 2-0 later in the third quarter on a Michael Pavone 3-point play gave the Lancers a 25-24 lead with 1:48 left.

With Lake Park up 27-24, South Elgin senior Adam Hodge hit a 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining in the third as the game was tied 27-27 heading into the fourth.

The Storm scored the first 5 points of the fourth as Hodge and Jordan Dobler hit jumpers and Daniel Lopez made 1 of 2 free throws. The lead never went below three the rest of the way, but the Storm were never comfortable as they made only 5 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter.

"We made it closer than it should have been with all the free throws we missed," said Hodge, who led the Storm with 14 points and 8 rebounds. "We could have done the little things better. That kept them in the game I think."

The Storm's Alex Sanchez, who frustrated Lake Park point guards all night, finished with 10 points, 8 in the fourth quarter, and 4 steals. Josh Glenn also added 10 points.

Pavone scored a game-high 14 for Lake Park. Baylis finished with 13 points, 9 coming in the second half.