South Elgin smothers Palatine 51-28

South Elgin's strong defense and balanced scoring attack paced the Storm to a 51-28 victory over Palatine on Friday at the 35th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York High School.

The Pirates were slowed by South Elgin's intense pressure man-to-man defense, which forced Palatine into turnovers and created offensive opportunities for the Storm.

"To be able to hold a team to 28 points is a very good job defensively," South Elgin coach Chaz Taft said. "Just getting that first win here is key."

Junior guard Tommy Childs played a big role for South Elgin (8-1) against Palatine. Childs scored a game-high 13 points and contributed 3 steals in a stretch of about a minute during the third quarter.

"We work on our defense every day in practice, so it pays off in the games," Childs said. "We work so much on it in practice, you know, two to three hours a day. (Taft) pushes us real hard but it works out in the game."

Taft said Childs had a real hot start to the season but hit what Taft termed a "junior wall." Taft said Friday's game was a bounce-back game for Childs, and Childs agreed with that assessment.

"I just had a lot of support from my teammates coming into the game," Childs said. "They were just telling me to play my game and whatever happens, happens."

The Storm put together some big runs in the first and third quarters that played a big role in the game's final score. South Elgin outscored Palatine 35-14 in those two quarters.

"That's kind of been a sticking point for us all season," Palatine coach Eric Millstone said. "We play well in stretches and then we kind of let the game get away from us. Some of it has to do with what we are doing and some of it has to do with other team's making plays on us."

Seniors Daniel Lopez and Alexander Sanchez each had 10 points for South Elgin, and Thomas Galvan led the Pirates in scoring with 8.

South Elgin is in just its third year as a varsity program, and the hot start has the team pretty excited.

"This a great experience," Childs said. "It's a fun ride for us and we'll see how long we can take this."