Elgin has enough to beat Batavia
A win is a win is a win, right?
Well, maybe, but Elgin boys basketball coach Mike Sitter is still far from happy with the way his team is playing, despite Wednesday night’s 65-51 Upstate Eight River victory over Batavia at Chesbrough Field House in Elgin.
In fact, Sitter had seen enough of his team’s inconsistency at the end of the first half that he and his staff didn’t even talk to the team during the break.
“Didn’t say a word to them” Sitter stated after the game. “We let them run what they wanted to run in the second half. The kids took it on themselves and they had a little more intensity. But consistency is a problem right now. We’re a hard team to figure out right now.”
The Maroons (18-3, 6-3) came out strong enough, jumping to a 17-11 lead after one quarter and extending it to 33-23 with 1:05 left in the half. But the Bulldogs got a 3-pointer from sophomore Micah Coffey, one of his 4 3s in the game, and 2 free throws from junior Mike Carlson to close to within 33-28 at halftime.
The second half didn’t exactly belong to Elgin but enough of the fourth quarter did to send the Maroons home a winner as they prepare for Friday night’s crosstown battle at Larkin.
Elgin led 42-36 going into the fourth quarter and started the final period with a 14-0 run to take a 56-36 lead with 3:26 left to play.
“It came back a little after halftime,” said Elgin senior Kory Brown, who led all scorers with 19 points while adding 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. “We’ve been playing like we’re at the rec center or the playground. We need to be more condensed. We should keep that high intensity all the time.”
Down 20, Batavia (4-17, 1-9) didn’t wilt. The Bulldogs, who played without senior center Cole Gardner after his knee swelled during warm-ups, fought back to within 11, 60-49, on another Coffey 3-pointer with 1:05 to go, but Cortez Scott hit a bucket and Arie Williams (5 points, 5 assists, 4 steals) made a free throw before Brown broke loose for a jam that made it a 65-49 game with 28 seconds left.
“We don’t value possessions right now and that’s frustrating,” said Sitter, whose team’s defense did help create 18 Batavia turnovers. “This time of year every possession is golden. We’re trying to find chemistry right now and we’re not getting it. If we’d played Larkin tonight we would have lost by 20. We’ll just keep going down the bench until we find the right mix.”
The Maroons got a 16-point game from senior Gerardo Mojica, while Scott and Devin Gilliam added 8 points each. Elgin shot 22 of 46 for the night, including a 6 of 8 effort from Mojica.
““I’m just trying to do anything I can to make our team better,” Mojica said. “But we have to keep our intensity up. Intensity wins games.”
Junior Jake Pollack led Batavia with 15 points, junior Mike Carlson added 14 and Coffey had 12. Zach Strittmatter had 8 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
“You can’t turn the ball over that much against a team like that,” said Batavia coach Jim Roberts. “I’m very pleased with the way we scrapped. Our margin of error is very small and you can see that.”