Streamwood's big first half does in Elgin

Streamwood boys basketball coach Tim Jones was shaking his head in disbelief at how well his team was playing in the first half Friday night.

But he was shaking his head in disgust in the second half.

Fortunately for the Sabres, their first half was better then their second half was poor. Streamwood built a 22-point lead and did enough in the final 10 minutes to beat host Elgin, 55-40, in Upstate Eight Conference action.

"They looked great in the first half, but there comes a time where you have to take care of the ball," Jones said. "That's our season in a nutshell. We have moments of great and we have moments when we don't play so well."

The Sabres (8-17, 4-6) led 11-6 after the first quarter thanks to a pair of Jerrold Ofiana 3-pointers in the final minute of the quarter. Streamwood's lead was 17-8 before Robert Siwek hit a long 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Sabres a 20-8 advantage. That shot left Jones shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head.

The lead increased to 25-8 when Adam Acevedo hit a 3-pointer with 2:12 left in the first half.

Elgin (9-20, 1-9) trailed at the break, 27-12, shooting just 4-for-21 in the half.

"I thought for a while there that we weren't going to break double digits in the first half," Maroons coach Mike Sitter said. "I didn't think we didn't play that bad. But when you go 4-for-11 from the free-throw line and you miss a few layups, all of a sudden I think we have 20 points and I look up and we only have eight."

A Marcus Lewis basket with 2:08 left in the third gave the Sabres a 22-point lead, 40-18. The Maroons got the deficit down to 16, 42-26, entering the fourth.

The Sabres' lead was down to 9, 45-36, with 2:33 remaining after a pair of free throws from Elgin's Dennis Moore. The Maroons would not get any closer despite forcing the Sabres into 9 fourth-quarter turnovers.

"People were standing too much. Nobody kept moving," Lewis said of the fourth-quarter struggles. "(Elgin) was in the passing lanes and got a lot of fast breaks."

Lewis and Ofiana each scored 13 points to lead the Sabres, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Marcus Greene, Lorenzo Mitchell and Derrick King each had 6 points. Mitchell added 8 rebounds.

Jordan Dean led the Maroons with 11 points, eight in the fourth quarter. Kory Brown finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds.