St. Charles E. 68, S. Elgin 42

St. Charles East boys basketball coach Brian Clodi had been waiting for a game like Friday night's all season.

The Saints shot 67 percent from the field and played spirited defense en route to a 68-42 Upstate Eight Conference victory over host South Elgin.

"This is it," Clodi said. "It was a 100-percent team effort. They played with energy. They played with passion. They played together."

STC East (4-6, 2-2 UEC) went 22-for-30 inside the 3-point arc and went 2-for-6 outside of it. The Saints dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Storm, 27-17. Four players scored in double figures as the Saints only trailed for 45 seconds, 5-4 in the first quarter.

"That's how we played in the summer," said East's Kevin Senechalle, who scored 17 points and shot 8-for-11.

"We had a lot more energy. We didn't come out flat like we normally do."

After South Elgin (5-6, 2-2) took that 5-4 lead in the opening quarter, the Saints went on a 7-0 run to take control of the game. Collin Pryor, who went 7-for-10 for the game, scored 6 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter then added 5 more in second quarter as STC East took a 32-20 lead into halftime. Marc Stellato had 7 of his 10 points in the second quarter and Senechalle added 5.

Senechalle then scored 10 points in the third quarter. He also added 2 blocks, including one on a 4-on-1 Storm break, in the quarter. The junior also grabbed 8 rebounds in the game.

"We think he is a special player," Clodi said. "He knows when we get him the ball we expect him to do good things with it."

The Storm never got much going offensively, largely thanks to the Saints' 1-3-1 zone trap. South Elgin shot 32 percent (15-for-46) from the field and hit only 2 of 17 3-point attempts.

"It's difficult when you have to coach effort instead of coaching the Xs and Os," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "That's the biggest thing right now. We can't even talk about Xs and Os and execution when you have to go in there and talk about your effort on your close outs and box outs. We just kind of watched the ball tonight."

Zack Scott also finished with 10 points for the Saints. Pryor added 8 rebounds, 7 in the first half.

Adam Hodge led South Elgin with 11 points. Josh Glenn and Jeffrey Lewis each added 8.