Elgin downs Rich Central

Appearing to be on its way to a blowout win with a 41-16 halftime lead over Rich Central, Elgin withstood a spirited Olympian second-half comeback attempt for a 63-52 nonconference boys basketball win at the Chesbrough Field House Friday night.

"We like to push it up and down and we have to put the brakes on a little and sometimes we struggle doing that and today was one of those days," said Elgin coach Mike Sitter. "We played (Thursday) night and we did the same thing. We were up 18 and when we put the brakes on, the other team went on a run. So we need to go back to the drawing board and learn how to play better with the lead."

After senior Courtese Cooper started the Maroons' scoring in the game with the first of his three 3-pointers, Rich Central's Chance Love responded with a layup narrowing the score to 3-2. But the Olympians were only able to muster 3 more points in the quarter as the Maroons raced out to 19-5 lead after the first 8 minutes.

Elgin played near flawless basketball in the first half, committing only 2 turnovers and controlling the glass.

Cooper grabbed 11 of his 17 rebounds in the first half. The 6-foot 8-forward led all players with 23 points with 13 in the first 16 minutes. Reggie Cole scored 10 of his 13 points in the first two quarters.

Rich Central (6-14) successfully employed a trapping defense in the second half, forcing Elgin to commit 13 turnovers.

"It was long bus ride, we might have been a little sleepy in the first half," said Rich Central coach Cornelius Crossley. "I just told the guys (at halftime) we've got to get back to play some hard-nosed defense."

Tim Wolf opened the second half for Elgin (15-12) with a trey, but the Maroons managed only 8 more points in the period.

Back-to-back layups by Glen Abram (10 points) pulled the Olympians within 15, 47-31, late in the third quarter. A bucket by Titus Ahrens just before the buzzer gave the Maroons a 17-point advantage to start the fourth quarter. Rich Central was also aided when Cooper was whistled for his third foul and spent a good part of the third quarter on the bench.

Rich Central kept chipping away in the fourth quarter and pulled within 11 points twice. Both times, Cooper's free throw shooting prevented the Olympians from getting any closer.

"We were catching the ball in bad places on the floor. We didn't do a good job of getting the ball where we wanted it to be and get it into the hands of the people we wanted," Sitter said of the second half. "Luckily, the defense was good and the rebounding was solid."

Reserve Bijahn Murrill led Rich Central's scoring with 12 points.