Storm can't hold off Tomcats
The South Elgin Storm struggled offensively after the first quarter as the East Aurora Tomcats stepped up the pressure for a 58-53 Upstate Eight Conference boys basketball win Thursday night in South Elgin.
After a 17-8 lead for the Storm turned into a 29-26 deficit at the half, the Tomcats (11-7, 2-3) went on a 6-0 run to start the second half with Andrew Dockery providing all of the points.
"We told him to take it to the big guy (South Elgin's Daniel Lopez)," said East Aurora coach Wendell Jeffries. "He wasn't going to the basket hard the first half, which he did the second half."
After a 5-point first half, Dockery finished with 15 in the second half to lead the game with 20 points for the Tomcats' charge.
"I was trying to work on finishing in the second half," Dockery said. "We just started taking our time."
The Storm (8-10, 2-4), was able to finish the first quarter on a 9-2 run keyed by two baskets from behind the arc from Adam Hodge, who led the Storm with 18 points, and Josh Glenn, as well as a 3-point play by Hodge to take the 9 point lead.
"We were attacking the basket the first quarter," said South Elgin coach Chaz Taft. "We have to attack them. You can't let them get us on our heels."
Once the second quarter started it was apparent the Tomcats were going to pressure the rest of the way, getting into the faces of their counterparts by going on a 9-3 run with Dockery tallying his 5 first-half points.
"We were working on their pressure all week in practice," Taft said. "We went sideline to sideline and not baseline to baseline."
The Storm did rally near the end after the Tomcats took the largest lead of the night at 49-38.
With 53.4 seconds remaining, Glenn nailed a pair from the line while Lopez hit a basket while taking the foul and making his free-throw to cut the deficit to 56-51 with 31 seconds left.
However, missed rebounds from missed East Aurora free-throw shots in the final seconds ended any hope of a Storm comeback.
"I think the key was that we missed two big free-throw blockouts near the end," Taft said.
For the Tomcats, the win comes after a tough 67-64 loss to Bartlett the previous Saturday.
"We needed a win here tonight," Jeffries said. "We had a 2-game losing streak and a tough loss at home on Saturday."