Neuqua silences Elgin in UEC
Elgin has been riding a boys basketball high lately, which explains why the Maroons were feeling so low after Saturday night's 82-66 Upstate Eight Conference loss at Neuqua Valley.
"We just didn't come out to play both sides of the court today, and that's basically why we lost," senior guard Armani Williams said.
Williams scored a team-high 20 points, but that wasn't enough to keep the Maroons in the ballgame against a group of Wildcats who came off the bench in waves.
Neuqua Valley guard Derek Raridon scored 21 points and backcourt mate Brad Keeler added 17. However, the Wildcats caused the most problems for Elgin in the paint, where 6-foot-5 sophomore Dwayne Evans, making his first varsity start, scored 19 and grabbed 7 rebounds, and 6-8 senior Dan Pawelski added 13 and 8.
"I know Danny's a big boy, but then they send in the reinforcements, and we don't have those reinforcements on our bench," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "They're a good team, and they attacked us where we were weak, which was underneath."
Elgin hung tough most of the first half, falling behind by 7 at the break. But Neuqua Valley (18-7, 7-1) started the third quarter with a 15-2 outburst to boost the lead to 20.
"We talked about at halftime coming out in the first three minutes and making a statement, because we got it down to (3) with just a few seconds left in the second quarter and we let them score the next two baskets," Sitter said. "And then we came out and they scored at least the next 10, and that was the ballgame."
Just after Elgin guard Jeremy Granger fouled out with 6:48 to play in the fourth quarter, having scored 17 points, the Maroons cut the Neuqua lead to 8 points. But Neuqua Valley got its starters back in the game, and Elgin never threatened again.
"The team that played tougher and with more intensity won, and that wasn't us," Sitter said. "We let them push us around underneath, we let them be more physical on the perimeter."
"We have to keep our composure and we have to keep playing with some intensity, and we didn't do it tonight," Williams added.
Elgin (13-9, 5-3) entered the game having won eight of its last 10 games.
"They've been playing really great," Raridon said. "The crowd wasn't into it so it was tough to get really pumped up it, but we came out hot and played like that the whole game."