Wheaton North's size overcomes scrappy Elgin

Wheaton North's bigs eventually got the best of Elgin's youngs in a 65-59 victory at the Elgin Holiday Tournament Tuesday.

Elgin (2-8), which lost its sixth straight, led for three quarters until Wheaton North (5-5) erupted for a 14-4 run in the first 2:47 of the final period to take a 59-52 lead.

Falcons junior forward Jeff Schalk (6-foot-4) scored a game-high 20 points and senior forward Nick Barry (6-6) added 14 against an Elgin team that started no players taller than 6-3.

"We had a height advantage inside," Schalk said. "We wanted to work it around in there and if that led to other shots, that's what happened. We finally started stepping up in the second half. They have a bunch of young players and we had a little maturity over them and were able to pull it out in the end. We have some good varsity experience and that definitely helps us in the long run."

For the second straight game in the tournament, Elgin held a 10-point, first-half lead but couldn't defend it, a trend coach Mike Sitter did not excuse due to inexperience, though three sophomores and a freshman played significant minutes.

"We're 10 games into the season," Sitter said. "At some point you have to grow up and learn how to win a game. It's a learning process.

"It's like Groundhog Day: up by 10 early, lose by 10 late. It's just a matter of having a consistent effort for four quarters. We're trying to get that into the kids."

Elgin led 18-8 after a quarter, but the Falcons outscored the Maroons by 3 points in the second and third quarters to stay within striking distance. Barry pulled Wheaton North within 48-47 early in the fourth quarter with his put back after a missed free throw. Schalk tied the game at 49 on an easy layup with 7:23 remaining after junior Mike Fitzpatrick made a steal on the press and fed him in the paint. Schalk canned a turnaround jumper with 6:50 left to give the Falcons their first lead.

Elgin tied the game at 51 with 2 free throws by Jordan Dean (team-high 15 points), but 4 free throws by senior Matt Nelson, a jump shot from the elbow by Fitzpatrick and another turnaround jumper from Schalk extended the Falcons' lead to 59-52 with 5:13 to play.

Wheaton North's defense forced 27 Elgin turnovers, 8 in the fourth quarter.

"We had trouble guarding them in the first half and they did some pretty good things," Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos said. "I think we kind of made a little bit of a run with a couple of steals that helped us out and we hit a couple of shots. It was one of those days where you just stay with things and, hopefully, get a run going and come back to take a lead."

Elgin pulled within 62-59 on Kory Brown's transition bucket with 1:53 to play, but Mike Small (11 points) sank 2 free throws with 1:47 to play and Nelson split a pair with 1:37 left for the final margin.