Elgin starts slowly, catches Hoffman

A sluggish start didn't sit well with Elgin boys basketball coach Mike Sitter.

So, just 2:25 into Monday's 36th annual Elgin Holiday Basketball Tournament opener, Sitter sent his starting five to sit down on the Chesbrough Field House bench against Hoffman Estates.

About 2½ minutes later, the starters started to find their way back on the court. The Maroons (7-2) eventually opened up a 17-point third-quarter lead and held on for a 62-56 victory.

"Coach expects way more of us," said Elgin junior Kory Brown, who had 20 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. "When the next five came in and we sat on the bench, all of us were over there trying to get back in and talking to each other. We know what we have to do and what our mindset needs to be."

Which is something Sitter is looking to see with more consistency starting at 3:15 p.m. today when Elgin meets Las Vegas Centennial, a 66-38 winner over Larkin.

"We had a bad walkthrough this morning and it carried over to the game," Sitter said. "I wanted to make a point and this is what I was afraid of.

"Tonight was not a consistent game and there were too many spurts. We had too many defensive and offensive lapses."

Elgin's first points came from reserves Devin Gilliam on a steal and layup and Gerardo Mojica on a layup off a Brown feed.

Brown had a layup off a lob from Dennis Moore (17 points) and then banked in a 30-footer at the horn for an 11-10 lead the Maroons never lost.

"I wanted to get it going and get it rolling for us," Brown said. "It's almost a snowball effect - and good things happen to pile on no matter who does a good thing."

It eventually led to a 38-21 lead for Elgin three minutes into the second half on a drive by Jordan Dean (10 points).

"That's when you have to step on a team," Sitter said.

But Hoffman (1-8), which plays Larkin at 10:15 a.m. today, clawed back with its best offensive performance of the season.

Junior scoring leader Austin Terry had a team-high 16 points and 5 assists. Hoffman coach Bill Wandro also liked what he saw of juniors Alex Bonds (6 points) and Eric Saubert (11 points).

Izaac Robinson added 9 points and Mark Roberts chipped in with 8 points.

"The second half was much more encouraging," Wandro said. "When you get a couple of players playing it makes it easier for us to get some looks.

"At points we looked really promising and that's what we're going to focus on starting (today)."

Hoffman was 15-for-26 from the field as its 41 second-half points were just 1 shy of its single-game high in a 42-38 win over Prairie Ridge.

"I think we felt we needed to make a change from the first half - and we finally saw what we were capable of," Bonds said. "We've seen it in little increments here and there but this was a bigger show of it. This game definitely gave us some confidence."

Hoffman never got closer than the final score in the second half but did get within 50-43 with 5:15 left.

"If we put together a full four quarters like we did when we came back in," Brown said, "we can beat a lot more teams."