Elgin storms back to beat Buffalo Grove
It only seemed like Buffalo Grove was in control. Actually, Elgin had the Bison right where the Maroons wanted them.
Third quarter, down by 10 after a first half plagued by 12 turnovers and a 2 to 1 rebounding deficit.
“It was a kind of ugly first half,” said Elgin coach Mike Sitter of the season opener at the Bison Classic. “I thought we were lucky to be only down 10 (41-31).”
By game's end, thanks to Kory Brown's persistence, Jordan Dean's determination and one heck of a clutch 3-pointer from Cortez Scott, the Maroons had rallied all the way back for a 65-61 win to set up their huge game with highly regarded Stevenson tonight at 7:30 p.m.
The shooting of Brown (23 points) and Dean (11) kept the Maroons in the game in the first half.
Then point guard Dennis Moore took over in the second half, with a steal for a lay in, a putback, a free throw to tie the game and finally two more to put the Maroons ahead for good at 63-61 with 44.2 seconds left.
Buffalo Grove, cruising along early, surrendered too many easy shots for head coach Ryan O'Conner's liking.
“We talked (at the half) about not letting them get to the rim,” he noted. So what happened? “The start of the second half, they got 4 layups.”
And were right back in the game. BG had controlled things behind the shooting of Nick Prus (11 points), who eventually had to sit after a losing a tooth in a loose-ball scuffle. Clutch shooting from sophomore Luke Potnick and tough defense from Dan Recht (14 points) enabled BG to maintain a reasonably comfortable lead.
Then Scott showed up for Elgin. The junior swingman nailed his only 3-point attempt of the game with 1:19 left to tie it at 61-61. Even he was surprised.
“I felt like if I don't hit that shot, we're going to lose the game,” he said. “This is my first experience with the varsity. Usually, Kory has the ball,” in that situation.
BG, playing makeshift in terms of lineup with Prus hurt and in foul trouble along with starting center Sam Wacker, relied on the quickness of Jeff Zabrin, the toughness of Kevin Tennenbaum and the shooting of Alex Fritz and Potnick to maintain the lead somehow.
Still, though, “We've go to do a better job of stopping those runs” Elgin made, said O'Connor, who's hoping that wins in the next two games against Holy Trinity and Christian Liberty can set up a possible tournament championship game Saturday night against Stevenson. The Patriots easily outdistanced Holy Trinity Monday.
For the Maroons, free throw shooting (18-of-35) will have to improve rapidly and they must do a better job on the boards. Twenty-three turnovers didn't help either.
“Perseverance,” Sitter said of the winning difference after reviewing some of the sad statistics. That, and Cortez Scott.
“We were really nervous about Cortez,” said Sitter. “I'm really glad he stepped up.”