Childs, South Elgin hold off Bartlett in the end

In the fourth quarter of a nip-and-tuck Upstate Eight boys basketball battle between Bartlett and host South Elgin Friday night, the ball found its way into Tommy Childs' talented hands.

"I want the ball at that point," South Elgin's senior standout said. "There's no question that I want that ball and I'm going to go get it. No question."

After Bartlett trimmed South Elgin's lead to 55-53 on a 3-pointer by Frankie Cleope with 2:37 to play, Childs took it upon himself to lift the Storm to a 66-62 victory.

First, he scored on a drive to the right side of the lane, finishing with his trademark teardrop layup off glass. After freshman teammate Jake Maestranzi tied up the Hawks on the other end for a jump ball favoring South Elgin, Childs went back to work. The senior guard drove the left side of the lane and scored 2 of his team-high 20 points to put the Storm ahead 59-53 with 1:40 to play.

"It means a lot," Childs said of the win. "They got us last year. It was a pretty important game. It was Senior Night and the last game of the (regular) season, so we wanted to use that and bring it into the postseason."

The teams could meet again next Friday if seeds hold at the Class 4A Bartlett regional. South Elgin is the No. 1 seed; Bartlett is No. 2. The victory gave South Elgin (17-9, 6-4) a share of third place in the UEC along with Bartlett (14-11, 6-4) and idle St. Charles North.

The Hawks didn't wave the white flag after Childs' consecutive baskets. Four points by Larry Whitaker, an inside bucket by Cleope and 3 free throws by senior Luke Labedzki enabled Bartlett to pull within 65-62 with 4.5 seconds left.

South Elgin junior Sammy Sutter ended the suspense, however, when he split 2 free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining to make it a 2-possession game. Sutter finished with 18 points.

"My guys never quit," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith, who likened the raucous South Elgin gymnasium to a sectional atmosphere. "They came back and had some great defense. We had a couple of big shots by Frankie Cleope and Lance Whitaker, who hit a big 3, and Michael Banks had a big steal. We did some good things. I thought it was an enjoyable game to end the season on."

Sutter and Sheldon Chaney took turns denying Labedzki the ball. Bartlett's leading scorer was held to 9 points, 5 from the free-throw line, and took only 5 shots.

"We were trying to frustrate him and make him want to shoot," Chaney said. "When you don't touch the ball you want to shoot more when you do get it."

Bartlett still scored 62 points despite the attention paid to Labedzki. Larry Whitaker sank 7-of-11 shots from the field to finish with a game-high 21 points to go with his 9 rebounds, and Cleope hit a pair of 3-pointers on his way to 10 points. Senior Mike Banks added 13 points and 5 rebounds.

But South Elgin had too many weapons on its Senior Night, most notably, Childs.

"It was a great ending for those guys playing their last home game," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "I thought they did a great job and ended it the right way."