Elgin holds off West Chicago to snap skid

The odds seemed to be stacked against the Elgin boys basketball team in the final seconds of its home game against West Chicago on Thursday night.

For the third time in the game the Maroons had squandered a lead and allowed the Wildcats to tie the game with 46 seconds left. The Maroons were also without their leading scorer Lavion Baldwin, who had a game-high 26 points before departing with leg cramps midway through the fourth quarter. Not to mention the Maroons were trying to fight off the enigma of a 7-game losing streak.

None of that seemed to matter to unheralded junior Jacab Zajac. After the Maroons had run the clock down on their final possession and taken a time out with 11 seconds to go to set up a final play, Zajac missed an easy wide open layup off a dish pass from sophomore call up Reggie Cole. However, Zajac battled hard for the rebound and went back up strong for a layup with 2.6 seconds left on the clock that gave Elgin a 61-59 Upstate Eight Conference River Division win.

"I've never made a basket at the end of the game like that, so it was pretty exciting," Zajac said. "I just did my best to find an open spot on the floor. I thought of it as just another layup and after I missed the first one their was not even time to think about what was happening. You just have to react in those situations."

Zajac had just 5 points in the game, but certainly the 2 biggest.

"He's just a high effort guy all the time," Elgin coach Mike Sitter. "He's all over the floor and the kind of guy you want out there in those situations because you know he's going to do everything he can."

The Maroons (6-15, 2-6) never trailed in the game and led by as much as 20-9 late in the first quarter. Baldwin was a big factor early on with 9 points in the first quarter.

However, the Wildcats rallied with a 13-2 run to tie the game at 22-22 midway through the second quarter. The Maroons pulled out to a 34-27 lead by halftime and held it until West Chicago (5-10, 3-5) tied it again at 53-53 with 5:13 left in the game.

Baldwin gave the Maroons a 56-53 lead on a 3-pointer with 4:33 left to play. West Chicago later tied the game one last time 59-59 on 3-pointer by Mike Bibbs with 46 seconds left.

Desmond Douglas had 18 points for the Maroons.

"I thought the whole team responded very well tonight," Douglas said. "We practice these kind of game situations all the time, so we were able to handle it."

It was the Maroons' first win since the Marengo Christmas tournament.

"It's big for us," Sitter said. "We needed this. I thought we did a good job of spreading the floor and taking advantage of our speed. I thought the sophomores we just called up (Cole and Tim Wolf) were able to make a nice contribution. It gives us a chance to have fresh legs out on the floor more. Mike Miller had a real nice game, too. He took a couple charges and was tough on the boards. Those are things that coaches really appreciate."

Mike Bibbs had 17 points to lead West Chicago. Tai Bibbs added 16.