South Elgin defense stymies St. Charles North
South Elgin's boys basketball team turned visiting St. Charles North inside out to earn a 67-64 victory in an Upstate Eight Conference crossover Saturday.
The North Stars scored at a proficient clip when they passed the ball inside to 6-foot-7 junior forward Kyle Nelson (18 points) and 6-4 senior forward Josh Mikes (12 points), but the Storm defense kept St. Charles North's perimeter game under wraps with good man-to-man defense.
The North Stars did not make a shot from outside the paint until senior guard Chris Conrad's harmless 3-pointer rattled through at the buzzer.
“They are a tough team. We just played good defense tonight,” South Elgin coach Chaz Taft said.
Nelson and Mikes combined to shoot 14 of 22 from close range for St. Charles North (3-4), but South Elgin (4-4) held the rest of the North Stars to 3 field goals in 20 attempts, including 1 of 11 from 3-point range.
Sophomore guard Quenten Payne scored 14 points, all from the line. Likewise, Conrad 12 of his team-best 19 points from the free-throw line. Overall, the North Stars scored 29 points from the stripe in 34 attempts.
“They were a real good defensive team,” Payne said of the Storm. “They're physical. They didn't let us get any second-chance opportunities. They did a real good job down the stretch of shutting down the offensive rebounds, and when they got it on offense they kept the lead by slowing it down, getting extra passes and wide-open looks.
“(Shots) wouldn't fall, so I just tried to get to the rim and get free throws.”
Neither team led by more than 4 points from the second quarter onward, and the suspenseful second half featured three lead changes and five ties. South Elgin took the lead for good with 5:50 left in the fourth quarter, when senior guard Sam Sutter sank a short baseline jump shot to give the Storm a 49-47 lead.
Sutter, whose playing time was limited in the first half after he picked up his third foul with five minutes left in the second quarter, scored 19 of his game-high 22 points after the intermission.
“They were tagging him, denying him the ball,” Taft said. “So we got to a certain package that we use when we want to get Sammy more shots because there's more help on the back side. We were running more stuff for Sam and it happened to work. Some days it works, some days it doesn't.”
“This is a big win” Sutter said. “ It's the biggest win of the year so far.”
The North Stars stayed within 58-57, courtesy of Nelson's layup, assisted by Mikes, with 1:13 left. However, Mikes immediately fouled out at the other end, and the Storm sank 9-of-10 free-throw attempts in the final 40 seconds to hold on for the win. Sophomore point guard Jake Maestranzi sank 3-of-4 attempts late.
“I practice my free throws all the time because free throws win games,” said Maestranzi, who sank 9-of-10 free throws overall en route to a 12-point night.
St. Charles North took a 10-2 lead in the first quarter, but Mikes picked up his second foul just four minutes into the game and played only two minutes the rest of the first half. South Elgin was able to pull within 27-25 at halftime.
“Josh being in foul trouble doesn't help, but we have multiple options and plenty of talent,” St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin said. “They just beat us on both ends of the floor, soundly if you ask me. They made us look bad.
“We didn't shoot the ball well, but we also didn't follow the game plan. We wanted to pound them at the start of each quarter inside. Kyle had a nice numbers night, but he didn't get enough touches.”