Streamwood comes up short vs. St. Charles East

When you go to the free-throw line 33 more times than your opponent, you have a good chance to win.

The St. Charles East boys basketball team made 22 more free throws Friday night than Streamwood attempted en route to a 67-59 Upstate Eight River victory in Streamwood.

"To go to the free-throw line and shoot that many free throws, that's how you want to close out games," East coach Brian Clodi said. "We won the first two quarters and that allowed us to spread them out and get them in foul trouble."

The Sabres (3-6, 0-2) cut a 14-point deficit down to 4, 35-31, with 3:12 remaining in the third quarter. But STC East (2-5, 2-1) got into the bonus shortly thereafter and hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 3:08 of the third. The Saints then hit 18 of 22 from the foul line in the fourth to hold off the Sabres. East finished 27-for-38 from the foul line. Streamwood was 3-for-5 with all the attempts coming in the second quarter.

"It was a huge difference," said East's Kendall Stephens, who went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, including 6-for-6 in the fourth quarter. "The key was getting them in the bonus in the third quarter."

Streamwood's only lead came at 2-0 after a Mike Montgomery basket. The Saints went on a 15-2 run to grabbed a double-digit lead, 15-4. All five East starters scored during the run. The lead increased to 14 on three occasions in the second quarter, including 34-20 at halftime after a Mike Woods 3-pointer with 4 seconds left in the second quarter.

The Sabres opened the second half on a 11-1 run to get within 4, 35-31. East's lead was 5, 42-37, when Woods hit a desperation 3-pointer off the backboard at the buzzer for a 44-37 lead going into the fourth. After 2 free throws from Johnny Hondlik and a layup from Stephens, the Saints' lead was back to 12, 49-37, with 6:55 remaining.

"We spent all that energy to get it down to four. We had to stay with what we were doing because it was working," Sabres coach Tim Jones said. "We didn't have enough firepower. We made too many mental mistakes."

Stephens led all scorers with 20 points. The sophomore also grabbed 6 rebounds. Hondlik added 12 points and 5 rebounds. Woods scored 10 points, including going 4-for-4 from the foul line, off the bench.

D.J. Mustari had 15 points, including hitting four 3-pointers, to lead Streamwood. Montgomery finished with 14 points and 5 rebounds.