Saints prevail in high-scoring game at Elgin
Elgin boys basketball coach Mike Sitter isn't psychic, just realistic.
After the Maroons outscored visiting St. Charles East 41-39 in a run-and-gun first half, Sitter tried to make a point in the halftime locker room by telling his players, "The first team to play defense will win."
He was right.
But it was St. Charles East that finally strung together some defensive stops to fuel a 10-1 run that sealed its 85-77 Upstate Eight Conference victory at Chesbrough Field House Thursday night.
Elgin (10-7, 3-1) took its final lead with 2:25 to play when guard Armani Williams (18 points) canned his fourth 3-pointer of the game and Elgin's 10th as a team to put the Maroons ahead 76-75.
But 6-foot-6 St. Charles East guard Brian Lankton scored a bucket in the paint to ignite the decisive push for the Saints (7-9, 2-3).
Elgin missed shots with 1:56 to play and 1:21 remaining as the Saints switched out of their man-to-man defense in the final three minutes of the game in favor of a rotation of zone defenses.
"That slowed them down and that's when we took over the momentum," Saints coach Brian Clodi said. "But our offense got us the momentum."
The Saints crashed the boards after each Elgin miss and eventually made their way to the free-throw line.
Senior Cam Caruso sank 3 free throws and Collin Pryor -- who scored a team-best 26 points -- sank a pair from the line with 39 seconds left to establish an 82-76 lead.
"The fourth quarter has kind of been where we've been struggling this season," Pryor said. "Even though they kind of took a run with (Jeremy) Granger and Armani hitting some key shots, we kept our composure, we kept strong, played as a team and finished it out."
Lankton capped the victory with a dunk plus the foul after the Saints broke Elgin's press.
St. Charles East got a big lift on the perimeter from guard Mike Stellato's 15 points, but the Saints did most of their damage in the paint.
Pryor (6-6), Kevin Senechalle (6-6) and Lankton, who scored most of his 16 points on post-ups or drives in the lane, combined for 51 of the Saints' 85 points.
"That's all we practiced was limiting post touches," Sitter said. "But a lot of it is want to, and Collin Pryor wanted it tonight more than our bigs.
"We'll just get back to the drawing board tomorrow and work them harder. I can't rant and rave like a lunatic every practice."
Before the Saints made their game-winning surge in the fourth quarter, the lead changed hands 17 times and was tied on 10 occasions.
St. Charles East, thanks mainly to its plentiful opportunities in the lane, shot 66 percent for the game (33 of 50). The Saints outrebounded Elgin 25-17.
The loss all but knocked Elgin out of UEC title contention. Waubonsie Valley is unbeaten in the league with 3 games left on its schedule.
Jeremy Granger, who scored 14 points in the first quarter on 6-of-7 shooting, led the Maroons with 29 points. D'Angelo Stewart scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half.