Late run pushes Elgin to win over Cary-Grove

The Elgin boys basketball team finished Wednesday's 51-49 nonconference victory over Cary-Grove at Chesbrough Field House with the kind of rousing effort coach Mike Sitter has been looking for all season.

Cary-Grove led 49-42 with 1:17 to play after Ryan Barker scored a layup, courtesy of Chad McCarron's baseline penetration and drop-off pass.

But Elgin (4-9), which regularly faltered in the second half of games during the season's first half, rallied with a 9-0 run pull out the win.

"They kind of screwed themselves for the rest of the season because how they played the last four minutes of the game is how I expect them to play for the rest of the season," Sitter said of his players. "And they have that ability. They've played that way in spurts, but as you saw today we'll score 10 straight then give up 10 straight. I expect them to play at that high level the rest of the season or I'll be disappointed and I think they'll be disappointed."

The Elgin comeback was ignited by senior Alan Walker's open 3-pointer with 1:10 to play, which cut the deficit to 49-45.

Cary-Grove's inability to sink the front end of 2 bonus free throw situations opened the door for the Maroons down the stretch. After the first miss, Elgin sophomore Kory Brown penetrated at the other end and kicked a pass out to Jordan Dean for another open 3-pointer, which Dean drained to pull Elgin within 49-48 with a minute remaining.

The Trojans (5-9) were fouled and went to the line with 35 seconds left with a chance to extend their precarious lead, but again they came away empty. Elgin grabbed the rebound and the ball made its way to Dean, who drew a shooting foul while driving the lane for a short jumpshot attempt. Dean looked calm as he buried both shots to give the Maroons their first lead since early in the third quarter at 50-49 with 14.6 seconds to play.

"I'm not sure if I was calm. I mean, my heart was racing," said Dean, who scored 9 points. "But when the game's on the line you have to make those free throws for your team. We shoot free throws every day for an hour, so you have to come out here and knock them down."

No one understands Dean's clutch free-throw philosophy better than the Trojans.

"We miss those two front ends and then we come down and don't pick up a shooter who gets a wide-open three," Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle said. "Then we pressure (Brown) too much, he goes right down the lane and kicks for a three. There's two threes that shouldn't happen. But making free throws in a close game is what it boiled down to."

Cary-Grove still had a chance to tie the game with 14 seconds remaining, but Elgin's Walker tied up Matt Aulert on the wing for a jump ball with 2.5 seconds left.

Cary-Grove maintained possession and tried to inbound from the baseline. Unable to find someone to pass the ball to, the inbounder tried to bounce the ball off the back of an Elgin defender, but the loose ball was quickly scooped up by Dean, who was fouled with one second left and split 2 free throws for the final margin.

"We need to keep that going the next couple of nights and we'll be good," Dean said of his team's late rally. "I think we can really make a run if we keep finishing games like that."

Senior guard Mike Richard led the Maroons with 13 points in a starting role and sophomore Dennis Moore added 9 points for Elgin.

McCarron led Cary-Grove with a double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds), junior Nick Richter scored 13 points and Barker added 9 points.