Zion-Benton 64, Elgin 50
DEKALB -- Elgin boys basketball coach Mike Sitter said Tuesday night that if his team played Zion-Benton 10 times, the Maroons might win once or twice.
Unfortunately for Elgin, Tuesday night was not one of those nights.
The Zee-Bees' athleticism and the Maroons' offensive struggles were too much as Zion-Benton earned a trip to Peoria and the Class 4A semifinals by beating Elgin 64-50 in the Northern Illinois University supersectional in DeKalb.
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"Playing this late in March you would like to play your best basketball," Sitter said. "We agreed to a man in the locker room that this was not our best basketball game of the year."
The Maroons (21-10) had not been this far in the postseason since 1998 when they lost in the state quarterfinals. With the new four-class system, Tuesday's supersectional was a quarterfinal matchup.
"It's a great feeling to get to this point, to be the underdogs in regionals and sectionals and to come up out on top," said senior guard Jeremy Granger. "We came up short of our goal, but it was a fun ride."
For nearly three quarters, it appeared that that ride might continue.
Despite shooting just 9-for-31, 29 percent, in the first half, Elgin trailed by only 6, 24-18, at halftime. The Maroons, who were the only team in Tuesday's Class 4A supersectionals who had to play a play-in game at regionals, went 0-for-10 behind the 3-point arc in the half and scored only 6 points in the second quarter.
But Granger hit a 3-pointer to open the third quarter to cut the deficit to 3, 24-21. After a Zee-Bees miss, Armani Williams hit another 3-pointer and suddenly the game was tied 50 seconds into the second half.
Zion-Benton (31-3) didn't panic and scored the next 6 points as Ronald Steward, Marcus Yarbrough and Antonio Stewart all hit buckets.
"Basically we needed to stop them (after tying the game)," Williams said. "That's what we didn't do."
Williams connected on another 3-pointer to make it, 30-27. The Maroons got within 2 at 35-33 with 1:45 left in the third after a couple of Granger free throws and a basket by Marcus Redburg.
The Zee-Bees began to pound the inside in the fourth quarter. Two baskets by the 6-foot-7 Yarbrough and one by Lenzelle Smith in the first minute and a half gave Zion-Benton a 44-37 lead. The Maroons would not get any closer than 6 points the rest of the game.
Elgin shot 30.6 percent, 19-for-62, from the field and 16.7 percent, 4-for-24, from 3-point range.
"We were weren't taking good shots," said Granger, who led the Maroons with 21 points and 8 rebounds. "It was one pass, shot. You've got to run the offense, get passes. That sets up the offense. That sets up good shots."
Zion-Benton has five players who average double figures. Four hit that mark Tuesday. Smith, a sophomore, led the Zee-Bees with 20 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists. Quintrell Love added 15 points off the bench. Steward contributed 13 points. Yarbrough finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds.
No one other than Granger scored in double figures for the Maroons. Williams finished with 9 points on 3 of 16 shooting. Kenny Williams and D'Angelo Stewart each added 6 points.
The season is over, but "the family," as the players feel they have become, will as remember this postseason.
"I'm so happy that I can cherish this with everybody on the team," said Armani Williams, a four-year varsity player.