Big second half pushes Storm start to 5-0
A 10-point deficit on the road in the second half would have been too much to overcome for the South Elgin boys basketball team in its previous two seasons of varsity competition.
Those days are over.
South Elgin continued to demonstrate a steely resolve that could make it a factor in the Upstate Eight Conference race this season by exploding for a 25-5 run that swamped Lake Park 65-52 in the league opener for both teams in Roselle Friday night.
The victory kept South Elgin (5-0, 1-0) undefeated while the Lancers fell to 3-2, 0-1.
"We knew we were going to be pretty good this year with so many guys back, but 5-0 is really awesome," third-year South Elgin point guard Alex Sanchez said. "Basketball is a lot funner when you're winning."
Sanchez contributed to the fun by initiating a 6-point possession that gave South Elgin its first lead.
Jordan Dobler, who scored a career-high 18 points, pulled South Elgin within 39-38 with a runner in the lane with 1:36 to play in the third quarter.
Sanchez then stole a Lake Park pass on the perimeter, drove the length of the court for a layup that gave the Storm a 1-point lead and drew the foul in the process, an infraction one official called intentional. "I felt it on my arm, but I really didn't think he hit me very hard," Sanchez said. "But I'll take it."
Sanchez, who scored 9 points to go with 4 assists, sank both ensuing technical free throws and senior guard Erik Stade capped the 6-point trip by putting back an offensive rebound for a 44-39 lead the Storm never relinquished.
South Elgin kept the surge going with a fast-break bucket by guard Tommy Childs, who then opened the fourth quarter by sinking a 3-pointer to open a 10-point cushion.
"South Elgin's intensity got a lot more focused in that third quarter and we kept dribbling too much," said Lake Park coach Cray Allen, whose Lancers turned the ball over 11 times and sank just 5-of-20 shots in the second half. "High school basketball is a pretty easy game when you add intensity and desire. The team that plays harder wins, and South Elgin stepped it up. We could not stop their dribble penetration."
The Lancers drew on the energy of playing in their home opener to bolt to a 16-10 lead after a quarter and led 29-24 at the half, thanks to 12 of senior guard Danny Baylis' team-high 16 points. But Baylis turned an ankle in the third quarter during a collision with Dobler and took just 3 shots when he returned to the floor in the fourth.
The Lancers pulled within 54-48 with 3:55 to play when Lucas Antioho (16 points) sank a pair from the free-throw line, but the Storm made 10-of-14 free throws in the fourth quarter and pulled away as Lake Park missed 9-of-10 shots from the field in the final period.
Stade, Childs scored 9 points apiece and Josh Smith added 8 points and 8 rebounds for the Storm.
"Our defense sparked us," Dobler said. "We were confident we could come back."