South Elgin, Chargers come away with wins
While basketball is a team sport, the South Elgin Storm and Streamwood Sabres had an individual battle going on in Upstate Eight Conference action Saturday night in Streamwood.
The Sabres' Tem Esikiel won the individual battle with 33 points over the Storm's Adam Hodge, who led his team with 28 points.
However, it was Hodge's team that took the win as his team's offense provided a spark in a 44 point second half catapulting South Elgin (10-11, 3-5) to a 77-61 win.
While Hodge had a solid 8-point first half, it was his third-quarter performance that lit the Storm up as he scored 12 in the quarter including two 3-pointers.
"I knew I had the hot hand," Hodge said. "My teammates know when I'm on, and they are very unselfish and kept feeding me the ball."
The Storm took a 34-26 lead into the break while going on an 8-0 run near the end of the third to take a 55-36 lead.
However, Esikiel hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Sabres' deficit to 16 going into the fourth.
And Esikiel didn't let up, knocking down another 3-pointer to start the fourth while scoring 12 points in a 20-9 run that pulled Streamwood to within 5 points of the Storm.
"He took it to the basket," said Sabres' coach Tim Jones. "It was a great effort. If we can put that kind of intensity into four quarters we could have won that game."
From that point, the Storm defense held the Sabres (3-18, 0-7) to only 2 more points while South Elgin went on to finish strong with 13 points as Josh Glenn went 6-for-6 at the line to finish the night 11-for-12 with 13 points.
"Offensively, the guys played well," said Storm coach Chaz Taft. "We got good looks at the basket and made the easy shots."
The Storm also was helped by Esikiel fouling out with just under a minute left to play taking away the offensive threat.
"One player has 33 points," Taft said of Esikiel. "He had a Mike (Jordan) night."
The Storm did lose Jeffrey Lewis early on as he took a hard fall leaving the game in the first quarter and needing stitches to his head.
Kyle Osborne finished the game with 11 points, 9 coming from 3-point range, while Daniel Lopez added 10 for the Storm. Brian Brauer tallied 10 for the Sabres.
Dundee-Crown 51, Woodstock 41: The Dundee-Crown Chargers picked up their defense in the second half to defeat the Woodstock Blue Streaks 51-41 in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division action Saturday in Carpentersville. The Chargers took the lead in the second quarter and never trailed from then on, but Woodstock kept things close the whole game.
Dundee-Crown (10-8, 3-1) drained six 3-point field goals in the first half, including 3 early in the second quarter that helped give the Chargers a 3-point lead over Woodstock (9-12, 2-2) at intermission.
"I'm glad we were shooting the ball well because we weren't playing very good defense (in the first half). Whenever they go in for us we're happy," said D-C coach Lance Huber.
The Chargers had trouble stopping Woodstock's Arthur Johnson in the first half. D-C's 6-foot-6 center, Charles Kimbrough, had 4 blocks that livened the D-C student section to chant "swat team" over and over, but Johnson kept taking it inside scoring 11 first half points.
"I wasn't moving my feet (in the first half). The coaches told me to be more aggressive and to move my feet so that's what I worked on," said Kimbrough who ended up with a game-high 6 blocks.
The adjustment seemed to work in the second half, holding Johnson scoreless the entire 16 minutes. The Chargers were unable to connect from 3-point range in the second half, but were able to hold on to the 3-point lead through three quarters behind their defense.
Jeff Beck lead the way for the Chargers with a game-high 18 points, but found himself on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 5:06 left to play and D-C holding only a 4-point lead. The Chargers then went to a motion offense and ran down the clock, which forced Woodstock to extend its on-the-ball pressure and resulted in some wide open looks inside.
"We thought that was the best way to score. In hindsight it worked out," said Huber of the motion offense.
D-C's defense held Woodstock scoreless while Beck was out in the fourth quarter and extended the lead to a 6-point deficit.
"I have confidence in my teammates. Greg (McNally) did a great job at the end there. He was getting double-teamed and taking the pressure, getting out of there and passing it around," said Beck. "He did a great job of running the offense when I was on the bench."
Beck returned with 1:34 left to seal a 51-41 win. McNally had 12 points and David Bernard added 9 points for the Chargers.
-- Todd Johnson
DeKalb 68, Larkin 54: Larkin coach Larry Hight likes to reward players who excel in practice.
In turn, those players rewarded Hight with what several Larkin players called their best offensive showing of the season.
Larkin, which trailed host DeKalb 18-2 in the first quarter, outscored the Barbs 52-50 the rest of the way. Larkin, however, could never overcome the early deficit and lost 68-54 in nonconference action at DeKalb.
"This is one of the best team offensive games we have had," Hight said. "We couldn't buy a basket in the first quarter. We played right with them in the last three quarters."
Senior Messiah Lewis was one of the players who had played hard in practice. He also played hard in the second half nailing four 3-pointers.
"Messiah has been working hard in practice all year," Hight said. "He has one of the best attitudes on the team."
Lewis cut DeKalb's lead to 39-29 with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter, the closest Larkin would get.
Lewis went 4 of 5 from beyond the 3-point line in the second half. The Royals (1-19) shot 45.5 percent after the first quarter. Larkin was just 2 of 9 in the opening period.
"We knew we needed to get back in the game," said Lewis, who led the Royals with 12 points. "We knew that we could play with this team in the second half. We knew we had to do something to keep with them."
No one could have matched the sharpshooting of DeKalb (11-10) in the first half. DeKalb was 8 of 11 in building an 18-2 first-quarter lead. The Barbs made 12 of their first 15 shots and finished the game 55.8 (24 of 43) from the floor.
Most of Larkin's problems came from Barbs' point guard Jon Umoren (14 points, 4 assists). Umoren, who led 4 DeKalb players in double digits, tallied a basket and 2 assists during the pivotal first quarter.
"We didn't have an answer for him," Hight said. "He's a good point guard. He ran the show. When he didn't drive, he dished off."
He also added a pair of steals in the first period, but turnovers were another area in which Larkin made a dramatic change after the first quarter. Larkin gave the ball up 5 times in the first quarter, which led to 8 DeKalb points. The Royals turned the ball over just 7 times in the remainder of the game.
Brandon Cooks, another player who has stepped up in practice, scored a pair of putback buckets in game. Larkin finished with an 11-6 advantage on the offensive glass.
-- Matt Stacionis
Marengo 51, Hampshire 46: It took almost three quarters, but Marengo's shooting awakened.
After shooting 4-for-24 in the first half, Marengo (6-14, 4-4) caught fire. And for that to happen, the Indians needed a spark of the bench. The spark, Eric Bauman, turned a dismal first half into a memorable comeback as he hit four 3-pointers, three in the final quarter, that guided Marengo to a come-from-behind stunner over Hampshire, 51-46, in a Big Northern Conference East Division clash.
Bauman, the unexpected hero, just celebrated a birthday the other night, continued his celebration with 14 points, including a critical 3-pointer which cut Hampshire's lead to 4 with 3:28 left in the game.
"I told him, keep making them, keep shooting them," said Marengo's Troy Appelhans, who finished with 14 points and 4 rebounds.
With Marengo down 10 at halftime, Bauman got it going. After hitting 6 of their 10 third quarter shots, the Indians cut the Whip-Purs' lead to 6 on a 14-6 run, led by Bauman and Appelhans.
Marengo started off the fourth hitting four consecutive shots, including the first three shots by Bauman, two of which were 3-pointers, and a 3-point play by Appelhans cut the deficit to 1 with 5:27 remaining.
Hampshire (11-10, 5-3) went on a 6-0 run soon after, building its lead to 7 on a Will Bush breakaway layup. That would be the last basket for the Whip-Purs.
Hampshire, which shot lights out in the second quarter, suddenly went cold. Hampshire's leading scorer, Mike Kozenczak (11), who was hot, couldn't find iron.
"We couldn't make plays. We couldn't finish," said Hampshire's T.J. Burzak. "They started hitting some shots and we made some bad passes. We just lost control.
Hampshire's Justin Bieber scored 11 points. Bush hauled in 10 rebounds for the Whip-Purs.
-- Steve Nichols