Bison win, but Elgin encouraged

Buffalo Grove 60, Elgin 45

Buffalo Grove may have a new cast of leading characters, but the script seems to stay the same.

The Bison, opening its boys basketball season against Elgin, followed a familiar third-quarter spurt with ball control in the fourth quarter to take a 60-45 victory over the Maroons in the opening round of BG's Bison Classic Monday.

Elgin led 10-9 after one quarter, controlling the tempo with a zone that kept Buffalo Grove out of synch.

"In the first half, we had difficulty attacking the zone," said Buffalo Grove coach Ryan O'Connor. "It was a good call on Elgin's part. We needed to the ball inside against the zone."

A 7-0 run turned a 14-11 deficit into an 18-14 lead that brought the Maroons out of the zone to play man-to-man. The Bison led 26-17 at halftime and came out hitting on all cylinders to start the third.

Mike Cornely, who led the Bison with 16 points, scored 9 in the third quarter, all of them coming in a span of less than three minutes. His burst helped the hosts stretch their lead to 42-27 after three quarters.

"Our plan was to come out (in the third quarter) with intensity," Cornely said. "We could have done better, but it was pretty good for our first game."

O'Connor agreed.

"I told the kids it's a nice start, but it's just a start," O'Connor said.

With just one player who saw any meaningful minutes last season, guard Tom Roth, the Maroons were looking for their roles and seemed to find them as the game progressed.

"I'm extremely encouraged," said Elgin coach Mike Sitter. "Mike Richard did a nice job, and I saw some good things from some of the other guys. I had the fear that they'd have that 'deer in the headlights' look, and I told them I was going to take a timeout after two minutes, no matter what. We were ahead after two minutes, and they seemed comfortable."

James Hurley scored 15 points for the Bison, and Kevin Mulligan added 11. Roth led the Maroons with 13 points, and Alex Kanlic added 11.