South Elgin, Burlington Central post wins at Sycamore

Logan Atkins admits he doesn't mind seconds when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, but basketball is different.

In contrast to Tuesday night when a South Elgin comeback fell one point shy, Atkins led a Storm surge that turned a 6-point deficit into a 13-point victory in Wednesday's action in Sycamore's Leland G. Strombom Holiday Tournament. The 67-54 win evened South Elgin's record at 1-1 and did the same for Hampshire.

"(Tuesday) night was a hard loss (59-58 to Rochelle), so we were hungry to get this win," Atkins said. "The first half they got us with their zone, but then we moved the ball well, cut well, and picked up our intensity."

After trailing by one (16-15) after one quarter, Hampshire owned a 33-27 halftime advantage and led by seven 44-37 before South Elgin scored five straight in a 41-second span and then outscored the Whip-Purs 24-10 in the fourth. Atkins scored 12 of his game-high 19 with Vincent Miszkiewicz coming off the bench to score 13 and Collin Uveges adding 10.

"That little run at the end of the third when they got it to one was the key," Hampshire coach Ben Whitehouse said. "We started to concern ourselves with winning and losing instead of the process of competing."

Frederick Powell was a one-man scoring machine pumping in 25 for Hampshire with Nathan Gomez adding 11.

Burlington Central's 67-58 victory over Rochelle was a case of the Rockets' intensity overcoming Rochelle's height advantage. Central led 12-10 after a quarter, 28-25 at halftime, and by nine (46-37) heading into the fourth quarter.

"Defensively we battled hard enough to make up for not making good decisions on offense," Central coach Brett Porto said.

Joe Ratzek led the Rockets with 19 points with 12 from Ta Vonte Harris and 11 apiece from Emmanuel Wells and Zach Schutta.