Third time not the charm for Elgin vs. McHenry
Heading into Round 1 of Thursday night's District B playoffs, the McHenry County College men's basketball team had three things going for it -- athleticism, the No. 1 seed and -- last but not least -- 2 previous wins over Elgin Community College earlier this season.
While the No. 8-seeded Spartans didn't make it easy, McHenry prevailed in the end, walking away with an 88-74 victory to earn a berth in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Sunday at Triton College.
It was back and forth early.
McHenry took a 14-10 lead eight minutes into the game following back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers from Lee Morris and Jasmin Neal (15 points, 6 rebounds), who hit two.
Elgin quickly countered with a 12-0 run to go ahead 22-20 with seven minutes left in the first half.
But 6-foot-5 center Cody Patberg ended the half with a 9-point run of his own to put the Scots back on top 41-31 before the break.
McHenry continued to strike from behind the arc as the second half got under way, with Mike Saris connecting twice from long distance early to make it 49-38.
Elgin didn't quit, and following a 9-0 run, the Spartans found themselves trailing 49-47 with 15 minutes left.
Trenton Thompson (12 points) and Steve Bilisko (11 points) added crucial scoring.
"Our kids laid it on the line tonight," said Spartans coach Reed Nosbisch. "McHenry is a tough place to play, and our guys never quit.
"They didn't play like an eighth-place team tonight."
Within 59-55 with nine minutes left, McHenry's leading scorer, Morris stepped it up with 11 late points off the bench to finish with 19.
"I was very pleased with our bench play," said Scots coach Steve Ryan. "Some guys came in and we were able to hit shots from the outside while continuing to get inside."
The Scots followed with a 10-1 run behind buckets from Roger Porterfield (10 points, 7 rebounds) and Jamie Roach (12 points).
"We came out with the win, and the chance to continue playing, which is great," Ryan said. "I give a lot of credit to Elgin though. They came out ready to go. They made us do some things offensively that we weren't ready to do."
Corey Rau was the most consistent shooter for Elgin, leading the Spartans with 18 points and a dozen rebounds.
"We got outrebounded early (20-to-12) which has been our Achilles heel all season," said Nosbisch. "It doesn't help when the ball won't go through the hoop either.
"But, I saw some great things and the guys worked hard tonight."
Jordan Teegarden added 12 points, 9 late in the game before McHenry (21-10) pulled away and closed it out.
"It's very hard to beat a team three times so I'm proud of what our guys did tonight," said Ryan.