South Elgin stops Lake Park
The goal for South Elgin boys basketball head coach Chaz Taft was for his team to hold the Lake Park Lancers to under 50 points.
Taft's South Elgin Storm (2-1) achieved that goal, and defeated the Lancers 49-42 in their Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving tournament game at Fenton Friday night.
The Lancers (2-1) were in control in the first quarter, only allowing 5 points and scoring 11. The Storm responded with some tight defense of its own in the second quarter, and took its first lead of the night as sophomore guard Darius Wells drained a 3-pointer to make the score 14-13.
The Storm held the Lancers to just 7 points in the second quarter and took a 20-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Lancers head coach Josh Virostko saw good things from his team in the first quarter, but he knew the Lancers needed more than that to keep South Elgin from making a comeback.
"In the first quarter, we executed the game plan," said Virostko. "We just didn't extend our lead enough. We had a lot of missed layups, and instead of being up by 9 points we should have been up 15. If you don't extend your lead, good teams like South Elgin are going to come back."
Taft was much happier with his team's defensive performance in its victory over Lake Park than he was after Tuesday's 57-44 win over Fenton, and Wells also knew the team improved.
"We got yelled at a little bit (after Tuesday's game)," Wells said. "(Taft) told us we had to step it up, and to stop giving up easy baskets. Staying in the gap, boxing out, and getting the rebounds was the key. We take pride in playing defense at South Elgin."
Wells led the Storm with 14 points, including three 3-pointers while junior guard Jacob Maestranzi scored 13 points. For Lake Park, senior forward Domo Spencer had a team-high 16 points, while senior forward Dave Prentis scored 13.
"It's always good to hit shots," said Wells. "And to find teammates and have them hitting shots. We expected to play hard. We didn't know what was going to happen, but we knew how to play hard."