Elgin squeaks out victory at DeKalb

After edging DeKalb 50-48 Tuesday night, the Elgin boys basketball team lamented their lack of consistency over the past couple of weeks.

Heck, the Maroons demonstrated wild inconsistency in Tuesday's second half alone. After tying the game at 27 on a 3-pointer by Matt Andres, Elgin let DeKalb score 10 straight points as the Barbs took their biggest lead of the night. After a timeout, Elgin answered with 13 straight.

It all turned out all right for Elgin when Arie Williams found Kory Brown open for a short jumper in the lane with 3.3 seconds left. Brian Sisler's desperation heave at the buzzer went off the backboard.

The Maroons (17-3) snapped a 2-game losing streak with the nonconference victory at DeKalb's Chuck Dayton Gymnasium, but they definitely weren't satisfied.

"We've been very inconsistent for several weeks," said Elgin coach Michael Sitter. "I was hoping that would turn around tonight. Now, I'm hoping it will turn around (Wednesday) night.

"We shouldn't have to make it come down to the wire. We should have taken care of business much earlier in the game. No offense to DeKalb, but we're better than them this year, more than two points better. Next year might be a different story with them, but we should have pounded them tonight."

Brown led the Maroons, who host Batavia tonight, with 17 points.

"I feel like we should have played a lot better than this, and a lot better in some other games, too," said Williams, who was the only other Elgin player in double figures with 16. "We have to get back on track, because we're starting to come into the crunchtime of the season, and we've got to be all focused at that point."

Gerardo Mojica added 8 points before fouling out. Brown added 6 rebounds and 3 blocks.

The game was called so tightly that at one juncture Sitter screamed at his players, "Don't touch anyone" as they ran down court.

Dan Matya had 18 points for DeKalb (10-14), and 6-foot-7 Andre Harris scored 10 points before also fouling out.

Neither team led by more than 6 points in the first half, which saw DeKalb score the last 9 points.