South Elgin can't sustain quick start, fall to Hoffman Estates
Hoffman Estates was looking for some balance.
After a 4-0 start, the Hawks had dropped 2 straight and was in jeopardy of making it 3 in a row as South Elgin built a 16-8 lead in the first quarter.
Then it clicked.
Led by an impressive defensive effort and a 10 of 14 shooting effort in the second half, the Hawks took a 54-38 nonconference boys basketball victory at South Elgin Saturday night.
"We needed to get back mentally," Hoffman Estates point guard Luke Mead said. "We found a way to be level headed."
The Storm (4-3) wasted little time taking it to the visiting Hawks (5-2). South Elgin opened the game shooting 7 of 11 from the floor, with 6 field goals coming inside the paint.
The Storm looked to cruise right along as the second quarter opened, but after a series where 5 offensive rebounds could only produce 6 missed shots, it never looked in the paint again.
The Hawks' defense did the rest.
Hoffman Estates held South Elgin to 17.6 percent (6 of 34) from the floor and 22 points the rest of the way. The Storm finished the second quarter going 1 of 11 from the floor and scored just 3 points.
The loss snapped a 3-game winning streak for South Elgin.
"Hoffman did to South Elgin what South Elgin had been doing to people," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "We didn't come out to guard tonight. It just wasn't a good night for us."
Hoffman Estates went on a 28-11 run in the second and third quarters led by Mead (7 points) and center Kevin Lessner, who scored 6 points in the third quarter. Mead (5 steals, 4 assists) led all players with 14 points and Lessner finished with 10.
Chris Hall added 4 points off the bench during the Hawks' 12-3 second quarter, but it was the defense that created the offense.
South Elgin turned the ball over 7 times in the second quarter and did not score for 3 minutes, 45 seconds. Adam Hodge (12 points) scored 5 points in the first quarter, but did not make another field goal until there was 4:38 left to play.
"Our defense won the game tonight," Hawks' coach Bill Wandro said. "They like to run (Hodge) off a lot of screens. Our guys did a good job staying with them."