No sweat for Elgin
The Elgin boys basketball team on Tuesday accomplished a goal more important to them than simply beating rival Larkin 65-40 at Chesbrough Field House.
These Maroons are a remarkably close-knit assemblage of 15 players who, for the most part, grew up together. It isn't uncommon, according to Elgin coach Mike Sitter, for all 15 to hang out together on off nights watching movies, playing video games. Name the idle distraction, the Maroons do it as a unit.
That bond is evident in their play, both on offense and defense. Offensively, they always make the extra pass with good ball movement. Defensively, help-side defense rarely fails to arrive.
This Elgin team works as one cohesive unit rather than five separate entities, and that's a big reason why the first-place Maroons were able to run their record to 12-4 overall and 5-1 in the River Division of the Upstate Eight Conference with relative ease in an electric environment.
Even the competition can't help but be impressed.
"They've got players who aren't worried about who gets the credit," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "Elgin gets it done, and that's about as big a compliment I can give a team that's got players who rely on individual talents. For them to be so unselfish ... they've got a chance to be special."
It was a balanced offensive effort from Elgin, led by junior Kory Brown (17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists) and supported by sophomore point guard Arie Williams (14 points, two 3-pointers) and senior guard Jordan Dean (13 points, 2 steals).
The victory was Elgin's 11th in the last 12 meetings and marked its largest margin of victory since a 74-43 blowout of the Royals on Feb, 25, 2008. Elgin now leads the alll-time series 75-39.
"I didn't want to lose in my last home game against Larkin," said Dean, the team's only senior starter. "It's great to come out and get a big win and get the other players playing time. It's an amazing feeling."
The Maroons won the first quarter 17-7, the second quarter 24-12 and the third quarter 11-3. Elgin coach Mike Sitter pulled his starters with 1:52 left in the third period with his team leading 52-19.
Four reserves scored rare baskets: Derek Moorman, Ben Nelson, Drew Bloomquist and Mike Quick, the latter of whom drained a 3-pointer from the corner.
"It was great watching them play," Brown said. "They're always bugging us and bugging us, 'When are you guys going to get us in?' We've been trying. We just kicked it up. We were thinking about them as a team. All 15 deep touched the floor and we were really happy about that."
Quantice Hunter led Larkin (4-15, 0-6) with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Larkin was still within 19-10 in the second quarter after a 3-pointer from Ian Fluhler, but Elgin exploded on a 19-1 run that took the wind out of the Royals' sails. Committing 22 turnovers against a persistent Elgin defense kept Larkin's offense from getting on track.
"Our guys got a chance to see what very good high school guards look like, what they do, how they play and the intensity they play with," Carter said. "Like I told our guys, the only bad thing that can come of this is if we don't learn. We have to walk out of here learning a lesson and they taught us one, they taught us one and we'll try to be positive about it."