Zelaya has right numbers for Elk Grove

Being forced into a uniform change had no adverse offensive effects on Elk Grove senior Keven Zelaya on Saturday night.

Blood from a cut right elbow got on his jersey No. 20 midway through the second quarter. Zelaya switched to No. 32 and scored 14 of his career-high 23 points to drive the Grenadiers (9-14) to a 52-44 nonconference victory over visiting Maine West (7-15).

"I was a little bit (concerned) when I got my arm taped up because it felt kind of weird on my arm," Zelaya said after making his first 5 shots and finishing 8-for-10. "But I shot with confidence and like I need to."

Zelaya and the Grens' confidence keeps growing as they surpassed their win total of last season with their first four-game winning streak since 2004-05. His 3-pointer with 3:17 left in the third put them ahead to stay at 30-28 and his third and final one put them ahead 49-40 with 1:58 to play.

"No. 20 or 32 hit some big shots for them," said Maine West coach Erik McNeill. "That was the difference in the game."

Maine West, which lost 62-60 on Friday to Niles North despite 24 points from Alex Samuelson, jumped to an 11-3 lead in the first six minutes. Conor Hart had 7 of his 10 points and Samuelson scored 4 of his 14.

"We were on such a high (Friday) night," said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman of a 56-38 Mid-Suburban East win over Hersey. "We talked about it, that it's hard to recreate that two nights in a row."

But the Grens eventually did with Zelaya and a boost off the bench by junior Joe Bishoff (8 points).

"We came out slow in the first quarter and the first half and I felt like I needed to step up as a senior guard and try to keep the team in this," Zelaya said. "Playing defense first is really the motto of our team and we started getting it done on the defensive end."

Senior Donny Duschinsky scored 7 of his 9 points in the second half for Elk Grove.

"Elk Grove is playing very consistently of late," McNeill said, "and obviously with Duschinsky healthy they have a nice team."