Elgin defense shuts down Geneva
The Elgin boys basketball team was out to prove last Saturday's disappointing effort in a 2-point loss at St. Charles East was an aberration.
Facing visiting Geneva, which had limited its last two opponents to 26 and 29 points, respectively, the Maroons demonstrated their own brand of shutdown defense throughout a 56-35 victory in the Upstate Eight Conference's River Division Friday.
Elgin defenders hounded Geneva shooters like bad word-of-mouth. The Vikings finished the game with a manageable total of 13 turnovers, but they shot 12 of 44 from the floor (27.3 percent).
“We're six games into (the season) and we've defended six games well,” said Elgin coach Mike Sitter, whose team improved to 5-1 overall, 1-1 in the UEC River. “Our offense is up and down sometimes, but tonight in the first half is about as good as we've looked all season.”
Geneva (4-3, 2-1) initially led 6-0 after a 3-pointer from senior Dan Trimble and a three-point play by senior Will Doeckel. Then Elgin came alive, led by 6-foot-4 junior captain Kory Brown.
The athletic post demonstrated his variety of skills while igniting a 17-3 Elgin run to end the first quarter. Brown sank 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to tie the game at 6-6, he blocked a Brad Bernhard shot, he scored a fast-break layup thanks to Dennis Moore's outlet pass and he spotted Cortez Scott in transition for an easy bucket.
Brown finished with a game-best 15 points to go with 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.
“We felt we had a terrible game last week, but I told my teammates we're not going to get on each other's backs,” Brown said. “We're going to stay a team and do what we do to the fullest of our abilities, win or lose.”
Elgin outscored the Vikings 14-4 in the second quarter. Junior Gerardo Mojica and senior Jordan Dean each scored 4 points in the period to stake the Maroons to a 31-13 halftime lead.
Geneva made only 1 field goal in the final 9:21 of the first half.
“We just kind of froze and couldn't get anything started the whole first half,” said Trimble, a 6-foot-8 forward who led the Vikings with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks. “We were hoping to do that to them, but we just kind of came out timid.”
Geneva opened the second half on a 7-0 run with 5 points from guard Dan Hince and a putback from junior Brendan Leahy.
However, Scott buried a 3-pointer in transition off a Brown assist, and sophomore guard Arie Williams sank a pair of 3-pointers at the end of the quarter to lift Elgin to a 40-23 lead heading to the fourth.
“I think we were only down 11 and I thought we had a chance,” Trimble added, “but then they hit 3 threes in a row and those were just daggers.”
Both teams return to action today with UEC crossover games on the road at 6 p.m. Elgin plays at Bartlett. Geneva travels to Roselle to face Lake Park.