Energized Jacobs nets big win over South Elgin
South Elgin boys basketball coach Chaz Taft probably wished the NFL hadn't scheduled wild card weekend the day after his team's emotional win over Bartlett.
"They were more worried about the Seahawks game," Taft said. "We'd come out of the locker room and they'd want to look and check the score of the game. That win last night meant nothing if we didn't take care of tonight. And that's exactly what happened."
Taft repeated that rant to his players on the bench during a 57-45 nonconference loss to Jacobs at home Saturday night. The Storm played flat with little energy against a Golden Eagle squad that felt overlooked all week and a little rusty since its last game was December 23.
"They were coming off an emotional game so I'm sure they spent all week working on Bartlett, they probably weren't giving us a thought," Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle said. "We caught them at a good time where we've been spending forever for this game. We had one game in 22 days and this was it so we said we better show something."
Jacobs showed something and South Elgin didn't match the intensity or physicality. Sammy Sutter finished with a game-high 21 points for the Storm but he dealt with foul trouble all game. His third foul just 30 seconds into the second quarter left others to pick up the slack on offense.
But the Storm shot just 6 of 18 in the first half while Jacobs (7-5) went 11 for 20 as Nick Hofman and Mike Peterson combined for 17 of the Eagles' 27 points in the first half.
"After losing 3 (straight) and that 21-day layoff we needed to come out and get a big win," said Hofman, who led Jacobs with 17 points. "I don't know if we had a big win yet this year so we're trying to beat a good team and that was a real good team."
Hofman opened the second quarter with two-straight jumpers off inbound passes, one from 3-point range, to give Jacobs a 10-point lead. Four players for Jacobs went above double figures including Peterson's 15.
Sutter returned in the third and propelled a slight comeback. Jake Maestranzi's 3-pointer and Sutter's shot from the right elbow had the deficit down to 5 though South Elgin couldn't match the defensive pressure and Hofman stayed hot for 6 points in the third.
"What they did to us, we did to Bartlett (Friday) night," Taft said. "They were real physical with us and we just kind of went like, 'oh, there's a team that's going to be physical with us, now we're just going to back down.' That's normally not my guys, but tonight it was."
Jacobs won the battle on the glass 28-15 and just outmuscled South Elgin, going to the free-throw line 22 times, hitting all but three. When Jacobs holds teams under 50 points, the Eagles are 7-1 while South Elgin has been averaging just 45.3 in losses and is 2-2 when held under 50 points.
"That's the story of this season so far," Taft said. "That's the reason why we're 8-7 and 2-2 in the conference. We come out and we can't pick and choose when we want to play, we have to bring our A game everyday."
As for Hinkle, he cracked a smile for his remaining opponents: "Just keep overlooking us, boys."