Sutter sparks South Elgin
Sammy Sutter felt like he needed to redeem himself.
He thought he took an ill-advised 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter Thursday and fumbled a backdoor pass out of bounds which would have been a go-ahead layup with 2 minutes remaining.
But the South Elgin senior made the tough basket when he needed to, hitting a contested layup with 1:07 left to give the Storm the lead and eventually a 49-43 Upstate Eight Valley boys basketball victory.
"I just wanted to be aggressive," Sutter said.
"I think I took a bad three one other time so the coaches told me to get to the rim. Fortunately the ball decided to roll in."
The Warriors (14-9, 4-5) took their largest lead of the game, 43-40, with 3:26 remaining in the fourth quarter on a pair of free throws from Austin Keys. But those would be the last points for Waubonsie.
Sutter, who finished with a game-high 18 points, scored and was fouled with 2:53 left. He missed the free throw that would have tied the game. On the Storm's next possession, Jacob Maestranzi found Sutter on a backdoor cut, but he couldn't pull in the pass.
After the Warriors committed a turnover, the Storm ran its motion offense and Sutter drove hard down the middle and found enough room to get up a layup with his right hand, his off hand. The ball bounced on the rim twice before falling in to give South Elgin a 44-43 lead.
"That's a senior making a play," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "He kind of fumbles that ball out of bounds and comes back. It was a great play by him."
The Warriors missed all five of their shots in the final minute. South Elgin (12-9, 5-4) hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 37.6 seconds.
"(South Elgin) came out with great energy to start the game and built a nine-point lead. That was the difference in the game," Waubonsie coach Steve Weemer said.
"You can't play catch up with a team like that. We did catch up in the fourth quarter then we didn't take care of the basketball."
South Elgin, which hadn't played since Jan. 29, showed little rust early, hitting five of its first six 3-point attempts to build a 19-10 lead after the first quarter. Four different Storm players hit a 3-pointer in the first.
"Surprising," Taft said. "I told the guys coming into the game, 'You haven't been playing at game speed. Practice is different from getting out there in front of everybody. You might have some fumbles. You might have some missed shots. You just have to play through it.' "
The Storm still held a 9-point lead, 30-21, at halftime. Waubonsie opened the second half with a 9-0 run, 7 points coming from Jakobi Johnson, to tie the game at 30-30. The Storm led by 5, 37-32, late in the third before the Warriors rallied to take the 43-40 lead in the fourth.
Johnson led the Warriors with 17 points, 11 in the second half, and 7 rebounds. Jared Brownridge added 6 points.