South Elgin fends off Streamwood; Elgin up next for Storm

The undermanned Streamwood boys basketball did not go quietly, but the Sabres were ultimately unable to halt South Elgin's string of first-round playoff success.

Streamwood rallied from a 14-point, third-quarter deficit to tie Monday's Class 4A St. Charles North play-in game early in the fourth quarter, but Ryne Lundy's 2 free throws with 3:07 left sparked a decisive 10-0 run that lifted the Storm to a 43-35 victory.

South Elgin (12-15), in its sixth year of varsity competition, has won its first-round playoff game each season.

The win advances the fourth-seeded Storm to a regional semifinal against No. Elgin (23-3) today at 7:30 p.m. Elgin defeated South Elgin 47-25 on Dec. 7.

"They're the No. 1 seed, the best team in the area," said South Elgin coach Chaz Taft, who improved his postseason record to 7-5. "It's a great opportunity for us to play them again."

South Elgin led 20-12 at halftime and extended its lead to 28-14 with an 8-2 surge to open the second half. Senior Eric Stazy fueled the spree with a pair of 3-pointers when Streamwood (4-22) switched zone defenses.

"When they went to that 1-3-1, those were two big 3s that Stazy hit there," Taft said.

Led by 7 of senior guard Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle's game-high 15 points, the Sabres erupted for a 17-3 run to tie the game. Sophomore guard Jacob Siewert's left-handed putback drew Streamwood within 31-29 with seconds to play in the third quarter, and junior Zach Harris' jump shot from the circle tied the game with 7:14 left.

"We were down by 14 and we climbed back in the game," Larkin-Guilfoyle said. "It was the story of our year, basically. We played three good quarters but we just couldn't close it out. They hit some big shots and we didn't down the stretch."

With the game tied 33-33, South Elgin's Lundy was fouled on a spin move in the lane and sank both free throws with 3:07 to play.

Streamwood missed a 3-pointer and a putback attempt on its ensuing possession, and sophomore Darius Wells stretched South Elgin's lead to 38-33 on a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:02 remaining.

The Sabres suffered through a costly three-minute, 4-possession stretch in which they missed 5 shots and turned the ball over once.

"For three quarters of the game, I thought we played decent, well enough to win," Streamwood coach Tim Jones said. "But there were eight minutes somewhere it could be four minutes here, three minutes there, whatever we just didn't execute too well and we gave them too many open looks."

The Storm sank 5 of 6 free throws in the final minute to ice the game and gain a rematch with Elgin.

"It'll be a good game," Stazy said. "I'm excited to play them. They're a good team."

"We're going to come out fighting," Wells added.