South Elgin turns away Streamwood in Upstate Eight
The South Elgin boys basketball team finally got the tempo it liked in the third quarter Saturday evening.
Once the pace quickened and the defensive pressure tightened the Storm ran away from Streamwood.
South Elgin turned a 3-point halftime lead into a blowout in 4 minutes en route to a 75-58 Upstate Eight Conference victory in South Elgin.
"In the beginning we weren't running like we wanted to. It was kind of slow," said Sheldon Chaney, who provided a spark off the bench for the Storm by scoring 10 points. "In the third, we got it going."
There were four ties and seven lead changes in the first 111/2 minutes before a Chaney offensive rebound and putback gave the Storm (13-6, 4-2) a 22-21 lead. That would be the last lead change.
The Sabres (9-11, 2-5) stayed closed and trailed by 3, 30-27, at halftime after a Tem Esikiel steal and layup with 10 seconds left in the half.
The Storm's Jeffrey Lewis scored 15 seconds into the second half to spark a game-changing 12-0 over the first 4 minutes of the second half as South Elgin took a 42-27 lead. Jordan Dobler, who led the Storm with 17 points, had 6 points during the run, which was capped by a long inbounds pass that led to a layup by Chaney.
"We made too many mental breakdowns. We had three big mistakes right away in the beginning of the third quarter," Sabres coach Tim Jones said. "That really set the tone."
Streamwood, which opened the third quarter by missing its first 9 shots, cut the deficit to 6, 47-41, with 1:08 remaining in the third after a Marcus Lewis 3-pointer. The Storm responded by scoring the next 8 points to get the lead back into double figures and end any hope of a Sabres rally.
Lewis led the Sabres with 18 points, including hitting five 3-pointers. Derrick King added 15 points and 7 rebounds. Esikiel had 8 points and was injured in the third quarter. Jones said Esikiel likely will need stitches over his left eye.
Daniel Lopez scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Erik Stade and Tommy Childs each added 8 points.
"Childs and Chaney gave us get energy off the bench," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "They kept attacking. I was very happy with their bench production."