South Elgin sneaks by Lake Park
Neither team could get anything going offensively in the first quarter Saturday evening.
South Elgin found its rhythm in the final three quarters. Lake Park could not.
The Storm grabbed the lead with less than 10 seconds left in the second quarter and then dominated the second half en route to a 46-33 Upstate Eight Valley victory in South Elgin.
“The first quarter, both teams played great defense,” South Elgin senior Sammy Sutter said. “Second quarter we really kind of woke up.”
The game was tied, 4-4, after the first quarter as the teams combined to go 3-for-20 from the floor and commit 11 turnovers.
The Storm (9-8, 3-3) got going in the second quarter, mostly behind Sutter, who scored 10 of his game-high 14 points, all coming in the final 3:10 of the half. Sutter hit a pair of 3-pointers, including one with 8 seconds remaining to give South Elgin a 21-18 halftime lead, a lead the Storm never gave up.
Lake Park (10-7, 1-4), which has lost four straight, went 1-for-9 in the first quarter and missed its first 5 shots of the second. The struggles continued after halftime. The Lancers did not make a field goal, going 0-for-9, in the third quarter. They only scored 4 points in the quarter. Dominique Spencer hit a pair of free throws 41 seconds into the third. Dave Prentis added 2 free throws with 51.3 seconds left in the quarter.
In between, South Elgin went on a 10-0 run to control. The Storm led by 12, 34-22, heading to the fourth.
“We got beat, got manhandled, got completely embarrassed,” Lancers coach Josh Virostko said. “It was an embarrassing defeat because of how they beat us. They just beat us up.”
The Storm’s lead never fell below 9 in the final quarter.
“We were really happy with our defensive effort,” Storm coach Chaz Taft said. “We had (two) four-point quarters. The biggest thing was knowing where their shooters where.”
Spencer and Prentis each had 9 points to lead the Lancers, who went just 10-for-38 from the floor and had 18 turnovers. Lake Park leading scorer Eric Eichholz was held to just 6 points.
Martin Duarte added 8 points and 7 rebounds for the Storm. Matt Hattendorf, Dillon Gardner and Willy Gagic each finished with 6 points.