Elgin-Auburn should be crowd-pleaser
Fans will get their money's worth if the Class 4A Dundee-Crown sectional championship game between Elgin and Rockford Auburn ends as wildly as the last time these elite teams clashed.
Elgin (26-3) and Auburn (29-2) last squared off in the semifinals of the Elgin Holiday Tournament on Dec. 22, 2010, a game Elgin won in overtime on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Dennis Moore.
The Maroons trailed that contest by 8 points with four minutes left in regulation, but they rallied to tie the score 53-53 on Kory Brown's 3-pointer with 48 seconds remaining.
Auburn leading scorer Fred Van Vleet's shot at the buzzer was deflected by Elgin's Gerardo Mojica, sending the game to overtime.
The Maroons trailed 60-59 with 10 seconds left in the extra session when they triggered the ball inbound. Auburn denied an entry pass to Kory Brown in the paint. With time running out, Cortez Scott passed to Moore in the right corner. The then-junior buried a 3-pointer that lifted the Maroons to a 62-60 victory and a berth in the championship game of their holiday tournament for the first time since 1999.
"It was an intense game, all the way down to the wire," Van Vleet, a Wichita State recruit, said Tuesday. "They beat us on a buzzer beater, so I'm kinda salty about that. We've just got to fix a couple of mistakes we know we messed up, and try to take advantage of that in the postseason this year."
Every team in the Dundee-Crown sectional knew the road to the NIU supersectional would likely run through defending champion Auburn.
"We figured we'd see them in the sectional, probably even the championship game," Brown said. "And what do you know? Here we are. It's going to be a great game. We're going to have to put it all out there. This means tons to Elgin. We have to do it big for them."
Each team went on to win conference and regional titles last year. However, Elgin was knocked out in a sectional semifinal by Huntley last March. Auburn subsequently pounded Huntley to win the sectional title before bowing out against Glenbard East in the NIU super.
Each team boasts a bona fide leader. In Elgin's 43-34 semifinal win over McHenry on Wednesday, Brown scored 19 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and blocked 5 shots. He averages 17 points, 9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game.
Van Vleet (6-0) scored 35 points in a 62-48 semifinal victory over Huntley, 2 points shy of his career high. The point guard averages 20 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals per game. He is supported by senior guards LaMark Foote (14 ppg), Elijah Smith (12 ppg) and Javauntae Hicks (7 ppg).
"They've got Freddy and he's a talented player," said Elgin junior point guard Arie Williams, who averages 13 ppg. "We have to figure out a way to slow them down. They know us. They want revenge on us. We have to come out with more intensity. We have to get every loose ball and play harder than them."
Both teams play tremendous pressure defense. Auburn turned 5 Huntley turnovers into four fast-break buckets and a 12-0 lead in its semifinal. Elgin held McHenry without a basket in the second quarter of its semifinal win. Each squad uses its athleticism on defense to spark its respective running game.
"They're a team exactly like us," Van Vleet said, "a fast-paced team, a team that can attack off the dribble like us but also can shoot. They'll pressure you, too. We're kind of running into a mirror of ourselves."
Both teams rely on quickness rather than height. Brown is Elgin's tallest player in the rotation at 6-foot-4. Auburn's tallest starter is 6-3 Jaylin Marshall, though his availability for the title game is in doubt due to a knee injury suffered in the first quarter of Tuesday's semifinal. Marshall landed awkwardly after scoring on a breakaway. He was helped off the court and later left Dundee-Crown in a wheelchair. Marshall averages 9 points and 8 rebounds.
"It's the worst time to sustain an injury like that if turns out to be very serious," Auburn coach Bryan Ott said. "We don't have much of an inside game to begin with. He's it. For him to be out, I think, certainly impacts the way we play."
Sixth man Tremel Rideout assumed Marshall's minutes in the Huntley game and scored 3 points. Only six Knights played significant minutes. Still, well-conditioned Auburn won comfortably.
"I think they're probably the first team all year that's more athletic that we are," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "It's not just a team we can pound and take off the dribble. They're so athletic. They take you out of what you want to do offensively, so we're just going to have to play basketball.
"You try to run a special and get Dennis the ball here or Kory the ball on the block, but you can't do that against that much pressure. You really just have to play basketball and stay within yourselves."
Whichever team can limit its turnovers should gain a leg up.
"If we take care of the ball and value every possession, we'll be fine," Moore said. "They're scrappy. They're going to pressure. It's going to be a faster game than against McHenry, but we like that.
"Now we get our chance at a sectional championship for the first time in our careers, so it's going to be exciting."
On the air: The Dundee-Crown sectional final will be broadcast on 88.9-AM WEPS. Kyle Bault and South Elgin student Ed Mitchell have the call, beginning at 7:15 p.m.