South Elgin able to get past Streamwood

All night long, the Streamwood student section found creative ways to antagonize South Elgin point guard Jake Maestranzi.

Maestranzi and the Storm got back at Streamwood with good old fashioned free throws. The freshman point guard nailed 4 and South Elgin went 11 of 17 in the final period to grind out a 47-43 Upstate Eight Conference boys basketball victory in Streamwood Friday night.

"It came down deep, we had to dig down deep for this one," said South Elgin guard Sam Sutter, who split a pair of free throws with 8 seconds left to put the Storm up 47-43.

After 5 straight lead changes, South Elgin went up for good when center Matt Downing hit a basket with 7:10 left in the fourth quarter. After that, the closest Streamwood would come is when Marcus Greene (14 points, 3 steals) scored off a South Elgin turnover to cut the game to 42-41 with 1:19 left to play.

Maestranzi responded by sinking a pair of free throws, putting South Elgin (15-7, 5-2) back up 44-41 on the next trip down the floor.

"They executed when they had to and we didn't," Sabres coach Tim Jones said. "When we got the ball, we had to score."

After going through a stretch of 10 minutes, 51 seconds of not missing a shot, Streamwood closed the game out shooting 4 of 15 from the floor. The Sabres (6-13, 2-5) went 5 of 5 in the second quarter and led 22-16 at the half.

The defensive effort also held South Elgin to just 3 points in the second quarter. Streamwood controlled the boards in the first half, and held a 14-8 rebounding advantage in the first half. South Elgin won the battle on the glass 9-8 in the second half.

"We talked about rebounding and boxing out and we did better job in the second half," said Maestranzi, who at 5-foot-6 led the Storm with 6 rebounds.

Without its rebounding advantage, Streamwood was outscored 31-21 in the second half. Sutter led all players with 18 points, scoring 11 of the Storm's 16 first-half points.

"We had to have all 5 guys at the glass," South Elgin coach Chaz Taft said. "Even Jake, if he could come up with a rebound, he had to rebound the ball."

Streamwood got 10 points from Marcus Lewis (3 steals, 2 assists), but the senior guard was limited to just a pair of free throws in the second half. Greene (5 rebounds, 2 blocks) did score 8 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Sabres.