Esikiel, Streamwood trip up Elgin
The Elgin and Streamwood boys basketball teams play each other again Monday night.
Neither coach wants a repeat performance of Friday's 60-51 Streamwood victory.
"I wasn't very happy with our execution," Sabres coach Tim Jones. "I wish our effort and energy were better. We can play a lot better than that."
"It was almost like a JV game with the ball getting thrown all over the place," Maroons coach Mike Sitter said.
The coaches will have three days to get the type of effort they want out of their teams. And if they can't, their season will end Monday in the play-in game of the Class 4A Dundee-Crown regional. Streamwood (13-13, 4-6 Upstate Eight) is the No. 4 seed. Elgin (10-16, 2-9) is the No. 5 seed.
The lead changed six times in the first quarter Friday night, the last coming on a Ryan Kiesel baseline jumper with 4 seconds left to give the Sabres an 18-17 lead. That would also be the last lead change.
The Sabres led 34-27 at halftime and by as many as 10 in the third quarter, which seemed to anger Sitter. Midway through the quarter Sitter pulled all of his starters. Three of them - Tom Roth, Joe Wade and Marcus Redburg - did not play again.
"I pulled those kids because I didn't think they were giving us their best effort," Sitter said. "If our bench is going to give us a better effort, they'll play. And that goes for Monday night too."
Tem Esikiel, who was honored before the game on Senior Night as the Sabres' all-time leading scorer, led Streamwood with 19 points, 13 in the first half. Marcus Lewis added 14 points and 8 rebounds. Marcus Greene added 12 points.
The win gives the Sabres their first .500 regular season since 1999-2000 and ended a five-game losing streak to the Maroons.
"We'll have to play our best game in order to beat them again on Monday," Esikiel said.
The Maroons were led by Steve Edwards' 11 points, 10 in the second half. Roth added 10. Elgin shot 28 percent (13 for 47).
The teams combined to commit 39 turnovers.
"Now we turn around and play them again Monday. I hope we get a better effort," Jones said.