South Elgin holds off pesky Maine East
South Elgin just kept letting Maine East hang around during Saturday night's game.
The Blue Demons clawed back a 14-point deficit and even led during the third quarter. But when Maine East got out of its offensive routine, South Elgin stuffed them.
Backup center Matt Downing blocked Maine East leading scorer Nusrath Kahn on two consecutive drives to the basket early in the fourth quarter. The Blue Demons didn't look inside again and South Elgin took a 65-52 home victory in nonconference boys basketball action.
"Obviously, we were undersized," Maine East coach Huey Crawford said. "(After Downing's blocks) we started going away from running our sets and started going 1 on 2."
South Elgin (13-4) never strayed from its offensive game plan, shooting 76.4 percent (13 of 17) in the second half. The Storm made 7 of 9 shots in the final quarter, while holding Maine East (4-11) to 3 of 13 from the floor.
The bulk of South Elgin's offense came from guard Sam Sutter. The junior tied a game-high with 24 points, shooting an incredible 9 of 11 from the floor and 6 of 8 from 3-point range.
Sutter nailed 3 of those 3-pointers when the Storm needed them the most.
Maine East took a 33-32 lead when Khan, who also finished with 24 points, scored on the opening possession of the second half.
Sutter took a pass from Tommy Childs and jacked a 3-pointer to put South Elgin right back up 35-33. The Storm never trailed again.
Sutter extended the Storm's lead to 40-35 with 5:28 left in the third quarter and then hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in the quarter, putting the Storm up 48-40 going into the fourth quarter.
The junior added 7 points in the first quarter, helping his team make its first 8 shots.
"We like to come out with a lot of energy," said Sutter, who has made 48 3-pointers this season. "We want to be the first to punch them in the mouth. But we have to keep the foot on the pedal."
Storm coach Chaz Taft echoed the sentiments after his team allowed Maine East to score 23 second-quarter points and come back from a 22-7 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
"You have to keep your foot on the pedal," he said. "We talked to them at halftime about getting stops. They have to keep the intensity for 32 minutes."
Kahn to score 14 points in the second quarter as Maine East shot 10 of 18 from the floor. Kahn was 6 of 8 from the floor in the period, but was limited to just 2 of 8 in the second half as Maine East scored just 22 total second-half points. Childs finished with 12 points and 7 assists and Sam Jordt added 9 points and 10 rebounds.