Defense leads Elgin to second straight win
The Elgin boys basketball team celebrated coach Mike Sitter’s 40th birthday at center court Tuesday night by snacking on postgame cupcakes smothered in chocolate icing.
Minutes earlier the Maroons completed a 52-44 victory over Stevenson by feeding off their own smothering defense, thereby delivering the gift Sitter wanted most: the inside track to the title at the 2010 Bison Classic at Buffalo Grove.
“We were talking about his birthday before the game in his office and coach was talking about how his wife wanted to buy him a new TV,” Elgin senior Jordan Dean said. “He can go buy a new TV if he wants, but you can’t buy wins.”
The Maroons (2-0) held the Patriots (1-1) to 29-percent shooting (14 of 48), hounded them into 21 turnovers and kept Stevenson from regularly dumping the ball into the post, where the Patriots enjoyed a distinct height advantage.
“Their defensive intensity definitely got to us,” said Stevenson senior Michael Fleming, who led all scorers with 20 points on the strength of four 3-pointers. “We couldn’t get to any of our offense. It got to a lot of guys, including myself.
“I think the fact that they came out a lot harder than us and wanted to beat us on every single possession down the floor really got to everyone on our team. They played really great defense.”
Consider Elgin’s coach equally impressed.
“That’s the best defensive performance we’ve probably had in a couple of years,” Sitter said. “I really liked how we took them out of their offense and didn’t let them run what they wanted to run.”
Elgin’s offense wasn’t bad either, particularly early and from long range. The Maroons sank all 7 first-half attempts they took from 3-point range, including at least one 3-pointer by each starter: Dean (2), Kory Brown, Dennis Moore, Matt Andres and Arie Williams (2).
Elgin led 19-10 after a quarter, led by 8 of Dean’s team-best 16 points. A pair of 3-pointers by Williams in the second quarter staked the Maroons to a 32-22 lead at the half and the lead remained 10 points heading to the fourth quarter. The Maroons shot 44 percent in the contest (16 of 36).
Stevenson was able to cut Elgin’s 16-point, third-quarter lead to just 6 points on a Fleming steal and layup with 2:23 left in the game, but the Patriots were called for their fifth offensive foul on their ensuing possession and Elgin sank 4-of-6 free throws in the final two minutes to maintain its lead.
“We knew if we won this one we’d have a good chance to win the tournament, and that’s something we haven’t done for a long time,” Moore said.
With wins in pocket against Buffalo Grove and Stevenson, the Maroons must beat Holy Trinity on Friday and Christian Liberty on Saturday to win the Bison Classic for the first time since 2002.
Ryan Chapman, Colby Cashaw and Johnny Ricchio each contributed 6 points for Stevenson, which won the rebounding battle 37-19.