Elgin 76, Streamwood 68

Jeremy Granger and Armani Williams stay after practice every day to shoot some free throws.

After the Elgin boys basketball team's next practice maybe they should have a contest to see who misses first.

The seniors combined to go 26-for-26 from the free-throw line Friday night to hold the Maroons to a 76-68 Upstate Eight Conference victory over Streamwood at Chesbrough Field House.

"The free throws, I just practice them," Granger said. "The coaches tell me all the time, 'Practice makes perfect.' That's what I did tonight."

Granger hit all 16 of his attempts, including 8 in the fourth quarter. Williams was 10-for-10 and went 6-for-6 in the final quarter. The Maroons (16-9, 7-3) were 18-for-18 in the fourth -- Tom Roth and Derell Howse each hit two -- and 33-for-37 in the game.

"We're very competitive about our free throws (in practice)," Williams said.

"Basically it was just easy to make our free throws today."

The Sabres (6-20, 1-9) went to the foul line 25 times, but made only 13. They were 6-for-13 in the fourth.

"We hung with them for a long time," Streamwood coach Tim Jones said. "I can't be too unhappy about that."

Elgin coach Mike Sitter continued what he said was an Elgin tradition of starting the seniors with the least amount of playing time on senior night. That meant Williams, a four-year varsity player, and three-year varsity players Granger and D'Angelo Stewart began the game on the bench.

Streamwood jumped out to an 8-2 lead before those experience Maroons helped Elgin to a 9-0 run and an 11-8 lead.

The teams traded the lead several times in the first half before the Sabres took a 27-25 halftime lead.

Each team nearly scored that many points in the third quarter as the Sabres outscored the Maroons 25-24 in the third to take a 52-49 lead into the fourth. The Sabres' Tem Esikiel, who finished with a game-high 30 points, had 10 points in the quarter.

Williams hit a 3-pointer to open the fourth to tie the game. The lead changed seven times in the final 6 minutes before the Maroons pulled away from the free-throw line.

Sitter joked it was a good thing Granger and Williams were so good from the free-throw line because they weren't so good from the field. They combined to go 9-for-30 from the floor.

Williams finished with 25 points. Granger added 22. Stewart had 12 points and four blocks.

"It may be the worst (Granger and Williams) ever shot from the field and the best they ever shot from the free-throw line. So go figure," Sitter said.