East Aurora holds off Elgin 66-57

Elgin made a fourth-quarter push to get back in the game, but East Aurora sank 9-of-10 free throws in the final three minutes to hold on for a 66-57 Upstate Eight Conference in Aurora on Friday.

The Maroons got off to a slow start, trailed 51-38 at halftime and saw the UEC-leading Tomcats (15-4, 4-0) extend their lead to 17 points in the third quarter.

"We came out intimidated," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "We had some problems with their press, which is how we got down 11 points at the half. It probably should have been worse. We knew they were good, we knew they were athletic and we played a little scared.

"Once we got tired of being punched and kicked around and started playing without fear we were able to play pretty well."

Nikil Satish scored 8 points in the third quarter for Elgin (8-11, 2-3), all on layups against the same East Aurora full-court press that had worked effectively against the Maroons in the second quarter. The reserve's 4 field goals helped the Maroons cobble together a comeback that eventually ran out of time.

"I was happy with our second half, especially heading into the Larkin game on Tuesday," Sitter said. "You know when you play at East Aurora it's going to be a fight, a boxing match. There were a total of 4 fouls called in the first half. The refs let them play and we backed down at first, but we were able to come back and play like we should."

Senior forward Marcus Redburg led the Maroons with 16 points, and seniors Tom Roth and Steve Edwards each tallied 11 points.

East Aurora was led by senior Will Brown's 18 points, 16 points from sophomore Tramell Weathersby and 12 points from senior Jamario Taylor.