South Elgin topples DeKalb

DeKalb 6-foot-11 junior center Jordan Threloff won the statistical battle between big men, but 6-foot-9 South Elgin center Dani Lopez and the Storm won the nonconference war 66-61 on Tuesday.

Threloff, who has seven Division-I offers from mid-major colleges, scored a game-high 27 points, pulled down 14 rebounds and got Lopez into foul trouble in the third quarter, limiting the Sacramento State recruit to 8 points and 8 rebounds before he fouled out in the final minute.

However, South Elgin senior Jordan Dobler scored 15 points and Josh Smith came off the bench to score all 12 of his points in the second half to lead the Storm (14-6) to their fourth straight victory.

"Threloff can score as many points as he wants as long as our entire team comes and plays our game defensively and keeps everyone else contained," Smith said. "Dani tried to limit him and then I came in and just tried to tire him out."

South Elgin (14-6) led 61-53 with 1:08 to play after guard Erik Stade sank 2 free throws, but DeKalb (12-10) rallied to within 64-61 with a pair of inside baskets by Threloff and a three-point play by guard Grant Olsen.

However, after Threloff scored with 3.8 seconds left to trim DeKalb's deficit to 3 points, the Barbs were whistled for a technical foul for delay of game for placing the ball on the ground in front of South Elgin inbounder Jeff Lewis.

"He tried to tap the ball to me, but I moved," Lewis said. "Then he picked the ball up and brought it over to me. He tried to hand the ball to me and hurry me up and the ref called the delay of game."

Storm point guard Alex Sanchez calmly buried 2 free throws to provide the final margin.

South Elgin and DeKalb will compete in the same Class 4A regional at DeKalb in three weeks and could face each other again.

"That would be a tough first-round opponent if we end up playing them," Dobler said, "but knowing that we beat them already helps."

"We lost 5 of our last 8 before (this streak), so we'd like to keep it going. We'd like to win 2 more this week and stretch this to a 6-game win streak.

South Elgin will play at Elgin on Thursday and hosts Libertyville on Saturday.