Elgin defense stifles Bufalo Grove in opener
The Elgin boys basketball team's off-season focus on defensive improvement paid off in a 66-40 victory over the host school at the Buffalo Grove Bison Classic in the season opener for both teams Monday.
Veteran Elgin, which returns its three leading scorers and 12 seniors overall from a team that won 22 game and a regional title last year, never allowed the Bison to find their offensive rhythm. Elgin scored the first 10 points of the game and held Buffalo Grove to 4 points in the first quarter and 7 points in the second quarter.
"Loved it, first half especially," said senior Kory Brown, who had 3 steals and 2 blocks. "We kept them under 8 (points) each quarter. Coach (Mike Sitter) applauded us at halftime for it.
"The second half wasn't as good as the first, but (defense) is one of the things we have to focus on and we did. We kept them at or under 40 points. That's one of our goals, to keep every team under 40."
Buffalo Grove shot 4 of 25 in the first half, 16 of 51 for the game (31 percent) and committed 21 turnovers. Junior guard Luke Potnick led the Bison with 16 points, 13 in the second half. He sank 4 of 12 attempts from 3-point range. Senior Sam Wacker (6-foot-7) was held to 9 points to go with his team-best 9 rebounds.
"It was tough," Wacker said of trying to score against the Maroons. "They're a high-intensity team, a high-pressure team. They shut down the movement of the ball pretty well, and they're up in your face the whole game."
Elgin had its share of offensive highlights as well, most notably an impressive dunk by Brown in the second quarter. The 6-6 wing faked a shot baseline left and blew past his defender. He switched to his left hand and dunked over the late-arriving help defender to put Elgin ahead 26-11 with 1:35 left in the half.
"When we did have to slow it up and play the half-court game, we've learned how to capitalize on that, too," Brown said.
It wasn't the multitalented Brown's only highlight. The uncommitted senior led all scorers with 23 points and 12 rebounds and added 4 assists.
Brown sank all 3 shots he attempted from 3-point range, junior point guard Arie Williams sank 3 of 5 from beyond the arc and Cortez Scott sank 2 of 4. Even Elgin reserve Joe Quick got into the flow. His 3-pointer with two minutes left in the game was the seventh for the Maroons in as many second-half attempts.
Elgin connected on 10 of 14 attempts from 3-point range overall and shot 52 percent from the field (25 of 48).
"We have a little group called the Rangers," Williams explained. "It's because we have so much range from outside."
"We have a lot of guys who can shoot it, and we made the extra pass," Sitter said. "That was impressive. We don't have one guy you can key on."
Williams finished with 15 points and senior wing Dennis Moore, showing no ill effects of a broken hand suffered late in the football season, scored 10 points and made 2 steals.
Elgin resumes play in the five-team round-robin against Stevenson (1-0) today at 7:30 p.m. Stevenson defeated Holy Trinity 78-31 Monday.
Buffalo Grove will try to earn its first victory of the season Wednesday, when the Bison host Holy Trinity at 7:30 p.m. They'll try to build on the positive things they did in the opener.
"Our defense was good in the first half," Wacker said. "We held them to 27 points in the first half and they're a ranked team. If we can do that for a full game, score and make our shots, we can win against anybody really."