Smith's 36 lead South Elgin past Guilford

South Elgin is glad to have Matty Smith back.

The junior guard poured in 36 points as the Storm upended Rockford Guilford 82-62 at the Jefferson Martin Luther King Day Tournament in Rockford.

Tyler Hankins added 14 points and Anthony Lynch 13 for the Storm (7-12).

Smith keyed a big second quarter in which the Storm outscored the Vikings 24-11 to take a 41-29 halftime lead. Smith, who also had 5 rebounds and 5 assists for the game, scored 16 points in the period.

"He was hurt from Thanksgiving up until about two weeks ago," said South Elgin coach Matt Petersen. "He's played 5 games now since he's been back from the injury, and he's had his 5 best games of the year."

The Storm trailed 18-17 after one period, but opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run thanks to Smith, who had a 3-pointer and an old-fashioned 3-point play to open the run. After the Vikings got back within 3, South Elgin scored the final 9 points of the half, including a 4-point play by Smith.

As is often the case, the Storm's defense ignited the offense in the pivotal second quarter.

"It started with our defensive pressure," Petersen said. "We started to force a lot more turnovers than we did to start the game, and the turnovers led to some easy baskets for us."

Justin Howard added 9 points for South Elgin on 3 3-pointers. Hankins contributed 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Davarian Blakely scored 17 points and Vontarius Tidwell added 16 for Guilford.

Earlier in the day, the Storm fell 74-57 to New Trier. Smith scored 18 points to lead South Elgin in that loss.