Ill-timed technical costs Storm shot at upset

The stands were full. The crowd was loud. The game was close. The pressure was on.

Faced with these conditions, South Elgin coach Chaz Taft had only one thing on his mind -- call a timeout. Unfortunately -- with 40 seconds left in regulation, the visiting Storm leading 37-36 and Waubonsie Valley trapping Adam Hodge in the backcourt -- Taft had to cross midcourt to get the nearest official's attention. That meant a technical foul against Taft for leaving the coach's box and two converted free throws by Waubonsie's Justin Peaster.

Those would be two points that Taft would rue in an eventual 47-44 overtime loss.

"That was stupid on my part, it was my fault," Taft said. "We didn't lose this game because of any lack of effort on my team's part. It was my fault and that's why we lost the game."

In most normal games the occasion of the technical would have been a clear turning point. But not Friday night. With Taft instructing his squad to run a play called "Home Run One" and only four seconds left in a 40-37 game, the Storm went the length of the court where Josh Glenn swished a 3-pointer from the corner to force extra innings, er, overtime.

That's where South Elgin's magic ended, however, as "Home Run Two" -- called with eight seconds remaining in a 47-44 game -- could only produce a 3-point attempt by Jordan Dobler that hit the backboard and ricocheted off the rim as time expired.

"We won, and a win's a win whether by 100 points or by one, and we won," was Waubonsie coach Steve Weemer's reaction to the great escape.

The game was a bruising defensive battle for all 36 of its minutes. Pounding the offensive boards with gusto early on and using the shooting of Peaster and Kevin VandenBerg, the Warriors (9-1, 3-0 Upstate Eight Conference) opened a 13-3 lead with a minute left in the first quarter. But though the Storm (4-4, 2-1) made just 6 of 22 shots in the first half, South Elgin closed within 18-16 at the break on Glenn's two late free throws.

Several times in the second half the Warriors stretched the lead to 5 or 7, but the Storm repeatedly roared back, finally tying the game on Alex Sanchez's 3-pointer with two minutes to play before taking its first lead at 37-35 on Jeffrey Lewis' layup with one minute left. That's when the game turned topsy-turvy.

"They played harder than we did, they cut well, they slowed the game down -- they deserved to win," Weemer said. "But to my guys' credit, they didn't put their heads down when we went to overtime."