Lewis comes through at the line for South Elgin

DeKALB - DeKalb center Jordan Threloff used and abused the South Elgin defense for the majority of Wednesday night's game.

But South Elgin's Jeffrey Lewis got him when it counted. Lewis grabbed an offensive rebound and drew a foul from DeKalb's Grant Olsen with 2.2 seconds and the Storm trailing 61-60. Calmly, Lewis drowned out the eruption from the Barbs' student section and sank both free throws. Lewis' efforts would lead South Elgin to a 63-61 victory in the opening round of the Class 4A DeKalb regional.

"I was confident," said Lewis, a 68-71 percent free-throw shooter who finished with 10 points. "It's just like a drill called swish we do in practice. Those were the biggest free throws of my career."

South Elgin (20-7) now faces St. Charles North, which the Storm beat 70-64 on 13 days ago, at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the regional title and a berth in next week's Elgin supersectional.

After Lewis sank his 2 free-throws, DeKalb attempted a long inbound to Threloff (14 rebounds), who led all scorers with 38 points. Josh Smith batted the ball down to Jordan Dobler (20 points), who quickly drew Threloff's fifth foul.

Dobler sank the first, but a lane violation halted South Elgin's lead at 63-61 with a second remaining. DeKalb (17-11) couldn't get a solid shot off, allowing the Storm to play for the regional title.

"This was a great atmosphere," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "It helps playing DeKalb the first game."

South Elgin led by as much 41-26 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. DeKalb, led by 23 second-half points from Threloff, was able to chisel back into a 55-54 lead with 3:44 left in the fourth quarter. The teams went back and forth with 4 ties and 4 lead changes leading up to Lewis' free throws.

Senior Kyle Osborne was a major force in keeping the Storm alive. Osborne sank his sixth 3-pointer of the night off a pass from Alex Sanchez to give South Elgin a 60-59 lead with 26 seconds left. Osborne was the driving force in giving the Storm a 31-24 halftime lead after trailing by 18-11 in the first quarter. Osborne connected on five 3-pointers in the first half, including draining 4 straight, to score 15 of his 20 points in the first half.

Osborne was playing in just his sixth game of the season after a foot injury in the season opener sidelined him for the majority of the year. The senior guard certainly made up for his absence by shooting 5 of 8 from beyond the arc in the first half. Foul trouble limited his minutes in the second half.

"While I was sitting there I was thinking that if I got open, I was going to drill it," aid Osborne, who got his rhythm down while advancing in the 3-point shootout before the game.