South Elgin regroups after Elgin's fast start

It's often said that the storms that last the longest are those that start with a slow drizzle. The Elgin Maroons boys basketball team may have found some truth to that statement Friday night after the South Elgin Storm started slow, but ended up outlasting the Maroons 68-54 in an Upstate Eight Conference matchup.

The Maroons (5-16, 1-10) darted out to a 22-10 first quarter lead thanks to 14 points by DionT Rodgers. But South Elgin (9-13, 5-7) rallied back with the help of Drew Cwik and Lane McVicar.

"We're used to being down, so we just have to stay positive and keep working hard," McVicar said. "I always tell the team to keep your heads up and keep working. There's going to be time when you're down 15-16 points and then come back and win by 20, so I just try to encourage them to keep working."

McVicar scored 6 points early in the second quarter on layups and a far-ranging jumper that just barely missed being counted as a 3-pointer. But it was McVicar's defense that really rallied the Storm, intercepting the ball several times when the Maroons tried to pass into the paint.

Storm coach Brett Johnson credited McVicar's leadership with starting the spark that propelled the Storm.

"Lane is always asking how he can be a leader," Johnson said. "This week I really saw the team responding to him in practice. When your leader plays as hard as he can, the other kids on the team will start to follow, and that's what we're starting to see."

Cwik's key 3-pointers in the third and fourth quarters thwarted any plans the Maroons had of rallying back into the game.

"I just give credit to my teammates," Cwik said. "They're the ones helping me to get open and then finding me at the right time. This week we haven't had any games, so we did a lot of running in practice and I think that helped."

Johnson credited Cwik's work in practice for his hot hand Friday night.

"He's a really good shooter," Johnson said. "He puts a ton of time in the gym. I tell him 'If you're not hitting them, then drive to the basket.'"

Down 30-24 as the second half started, Cwik's (19 points) layup cut the lead to four and after another steal, John Aaron Wafford's 3-point field goal brought the Storm back to within one. McVicar then hit three free throws to give the Storm their first lead of the game 34-32. On the Maroons' next possession, Cwik stole a pass and drove for a layup and a 36-32 Storm lead that they wouldn't surrender.

Brett Johnson thought the team played with the same intensity the entire game, but the work put in by their defense paid off as the game went on.

"We didn't really do anything differently," Johnson said. "We just started playing a little more aggressively on defense and started to hit our shots in the second quarter. I think that fired us up for the second half."

Maroons coach Todd Allen was happy with the strong first quarter start, but is looking for his team to carry that momentum forward throughout the game.

"We haven't started like that in a long time, but unfortunately we couldn't keep it going," Allen said. "We had a very good first half. Some decisions we made down the stretch, some bad shots ... give them credit, they went to a zone and we kind of went stagnant."