McHenry CC 89, Elgin CC 68

Elgin Community College men's basketball coach Reed Nosbisch said his team has recently had trouble scoring consistently.

Pair that with a hot-shooting McHenry County College team Thursday and it equaled a blowout at the Spartan Event Center.

The Fighting Scots shot 60 percent en route to an 89-68 victory that clinched their first Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference title.

"These 10 kids have worked extremely hard, have been dedicated and they came tonight to play," said Scots coach Steve Ryan. "It's a great tribute to those kids."

The Scots (20-10, 10-4) started quickly and never looked back.

Jasmin Neal hit a 3-pointer with 16:45 remaining in the first half as the Scots opened a 9-0 lead.

The Spartans, who missed their first 6 shots, finally got on the board 15 seconds later when Corey Rau hit a baseline jumper.

After the Spartans' Ryan Harris hit a 3-pointer with 15:50 left in the half to make the score 12-5, the Scots went on a 12-0 run to take a 24-5 lead. Five different players scored during the run.

"We didn't play very well defensively," Nosbisch said. "That's not taking anything away for what they did. They are a pretty good offensive team. We didn't help our cause defensively."

The Spartans (8-20, 3-11) got within 29-19 after a 7-0 run sparked by Javelle Cooks, who scored the first 5 points of the run. But that was as close as ECC got the rest of the game.

The Scots took a 46-25 lead into halftime, shooting 16-for-25 in the opening 20 minutes compared to ECC's 10-for-34.

"We really came out and played defense, giving up only 25 points in a half," Ryan said. "We knew who their shooters were and I thought we limited them on some of their shots. And we contested a lot of their shots."

The Scots led by as many as 29 in the second half.

Lee Morris, who hit three 3-pointers, led the Scots with 18 points off the bench.

Freshman Mike Saris from Crystal Lake South hit all four of his 3-point attempts and finished with 17 points, while Neal added 15 and Jamie Roach had 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Harris, a freshman from Dundee-Crown, led the Spartans with 20 points.

Rau added 12 points and 9 rebounds, and. Derick Mills contributed 10 points.

"We have struggled offensively for about the last seven or eight games," Nosbisch said. "They talk about when one thing goes wrong, it seems like a lot of things go wrong. That's the way it's been the last the seven games or so."