Despite loss, South Elgin on the right road to consistency
DeKALB - The first regional title for South Elgin's boys basketball program will have to wait, but that wait shouldn't be long if the Storm keep to their current path.
Directed by coach Chaz Taft, South Elgin (19-9) won 8 games in its first varsity season in 2006-07, 13 games last year and 19 this season, a steady improvement that resulted in a third-place tie in the competitive Upstate Eight Conference and a No. 2 seed at the Class 4A DeKalb regional.
However, Friday night belonged to St. Charles North (21-8), a program in its eighth year of existence. The North Stars won their first regional title in 2005. Their 60-42 victory over the Storm in the Class 4A DeKalb regional final on Friday is their second regional title overall and first under third-year coach Tom Poulin.
Though South Elgin defeated St. Charles North a few weeks ago, the title game was all North Stars. They took a 7-0 lead, switched from a man-to-man defense to a smothering 1-3-1 matchup zone and halted the dribble penetration on which the Storm offense relied.
"They just played a little more compact," third-year South Elgin point guard Alex Sanchez said. "Last time they were a little more spread out. We worked on trying to make sure we were wide, but they weren't really biting. They're farthest guy came just a little bit past the 3-point line, so it was a little harder to penetrate and our shots weren't falling. We were shooting it, but we weren't hitting them."
The Storm shot 28 percent for the game (14 of 50) while the North Stars connected on 20-of-30 attempts (66.7 percent).
"It was really different," South Elgin senior Jordan Dobler said of the North Stars' zone. "They let us shoot the three, then they'd switch everything. Our drive offense wasn't working. It seemed like everyone was playing timid after that and settling for jumpers instead of taking it in. That's basically what it came down to."
It wasn't the ending South Elgin was hoping for, but the Storm ran into a hungry, deep, talented St. Charles North squad that had been denied a regional title last year by then-Cinderella Elgin, which advanced all the way to the supersectional at Northern Illinois University.
How far has the South Elgin varsity program come in three short seasons? North Stars coach Tom Poulin said after the victory that the thought of playing the Storm had him twitchy, even though 6-foot-9 Storm center Dani Lopez was sidelined with a foot injury.
"I don't think I've ever been more worried about a game," Poulin said. "That's a good team, and with the big guy they're even better. Chaz, honestly - and I don't want to just compliment every coach - but he's incredible. His teams work hard, defend, they're ready for every situation that pops during games and at the end of games. If you play man-to-man against them, you'd better know what they run or else you're going to give up layups. It's a compliment to him. He's someone you lose sleep over playing, which makes you scout them more than you scout anyone else.
"They're on the right path. On a different night they beat us. We came out fired up and we had some motivation. I think the game plan we put together threw them off a little and they missed some shots early on. We made some shots early on, got the lead, and went to the zone."
The formula for South Elgin to achieve what the North Stars achieved on Friday isn't a secret. The next Storm varsity has to work as hard as this year's team did.
"This group started everything for us," Taft said. "They were there for us as freshmen. I had Dani, Alex and Jordan and all those guys, and they've grown every year and improved. We had 5 wins our first year, then 8-21, 13-15 and this year they were 19-9. These guys have put in the time.
"Now it's about consistency. How consistent do we want to be every year? Do we want to win 15 or 18 or do we want to be one-hit wonders, where one year we're such-and-such and the next year you have a losing record, then the following year be something great? No. You want consistency. You have to get in the gym and you have to want to work, work on your game, do those things.
"I told the younger kids to learn from this. If you want the opportunity to play in these types of games, you have to work at it, you have to put in the time. These seniors worked at it. They put it in the time."
The next group will put in the time, too, led by their hardworking coach's example. And South Elgin's time will come. It just wasn't the Storm's time on Friday night.
jfitzpatrick@dailyherald.com