Senechalle, St. Charles East trip up Sabres

All of a sudden, it's fun to talk about streaks at St. Charles East.

After losing 11 straight games to start the season, the Saints can talk about a winning streak. It's still modest at two games, but it sure beats the alternative.

St. Charles East got there behind 28 points and 17 rebounds from Kevin Senechalle, and its defense held Streamwood to 32 percent shooting in a 65-54 Upstate Eight Conference win Thursday night at Streamwood.

"After we won that first one we were telling people on a winning streak, and it feels good to keep it going," said the 6-foot-7 Senechalle, who added 4 assists, 4 blocked shots and 3 steals while hitting 12 of 18 shots from the field.

Senechalle, averaging 24.7 points a game before Thursday, had a double-double by halftime with 11 points and 10 rebounds. He scored 17 more in the second half to help the Saints extend a 26-21 halftime advantage to 58-37 midway through the fourth quarter.

"I thought the first half we did a pretty good job on him," Streamwood coach Tim Jones said. "He's a good basketball player and they run their stuff really well."

Tim Russell added 15 points and Zach Scott 9 for the Saints, who hit 24 of their 46 field goal attempts including 14 of 22 in the second half. Jess Striedl scored 6 points off the bench.

After 6 lead changes in the first half, the Saints (2-11, 1-2) never trailed in the second. Senechalle's 3-point play and Scott's 3-pointer - on a feed from Senechalle - in the closing 40 seconds of the first half gave St. Charles East the lead for good.

"The sky is the limit for him," St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi said of Senechalle. "He makes plays on his own. He's our anchor. He's the heart and soul right now."

Four Streamwood starters - Tem Esikiel, Brian Domokos, Marcus Green and Brian Brauer - picked up their second foul in the second quarter and missed a good portion of the first half.

Esikiel scored 18 of his team-high 25 points in the second half. The Sabres cut a 21-point deficit to 8 with a minute to play but couldn't overcome 21-of-65 shooting.

"That's a credit to our defense," Clodi said. "Our defense was stifling tonight."

Marcus Lewis added 9 points for Streamwood (5-10, 0-4).

"We just have to shoot the ball better," Jones said. "You take that away (outside shooting), we have nothing on the inside sometimes. Tonight they gave us outside shots, we have to hit those."