Bonds, Yaber lead Elgin over West Chicago
Elgin ended its regular season on high note Wednesday night with a 58-53 Senior Night win over West Chicago at Chesbrough Field House.
Solid team play and a 26-point second quarter made the difference in the Upstate Eight contest.
"It was Senior Night. Some guys, who have worked really hard, got an opportunity to start. We talk a lot about teams. Individual make plays, score some points but ultimately it's the team," said Elgin coach David Hess. "I thought that team play provided us with a lot of energy and toughness on defense."
It appeared that the Wildcats would spoil the evening dedicated to graduating players, cheerleaders and dancers by scoring the first 10 points of the game.
Junior Xavier Bonds finally put the Maroons on the scoreboard with 2:45 left in the period with a putback. Senior Trey Yarber drained a 3-pointer from the right corner just before the end of the quarter to cut West Chicago's lead to 12-8.
Led by Bonds and Yarber, Elgin's offense caught fire in the second stanza. The Maroons opened the quarter with a 12-0 run. Kamarr Banks laid in the first basket on a steal but the rest of the scoring was done by Bonds and Yarber.
Bonds put the Maroons ahead on an old fashion 3-point play. His layup 40 seconds into the period tied the game at 12. The junior was fouled on the play and sank the free throw to give Elgin (6-23, 3-15) the lead.
Bonds scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the quarter. Yarber, who finished the night with 21, scored 9. Elgin led 34-24 at halftime.
"I just found my rhythm," said Bonds about his 15-point quarter. "In the second half I just wanted to get my other teammates involved".
The teams played an even third quarter with the Maroons leading 47-38 at the end of the period.
While Bonds cooled off in the second half, West Chicago's big men, 6-foot-4 Sam Ricci and 6-2 Issac Nelson, got hot. Both were limited to four points in the first half but found their mark in the final 16 minutes to keep West Chicago (9-21, 2-16) in the game.
"They are good players. The first time we played them, they scored a lot of points," Hess said. "You are not going to shut them down, but we made them work." A Ricci (15 points) layup at the 3:56 mark of the fourth quarter pulled West Chicago within 49-45.
Johnny Bey sank a trey from the left wing to narrow Elgin's lead to 53-50 with 1:41 left to play.
The Maroons got a big defensive stop on West Chicago's next possession when Cameron Mueller grabbed an errant Wildcat shot. Back-to-back baskets by Kejuan Harvey and Bonds with less than 47 seconds left sealed Elgin's victory.
Nelson scored 11 points for West Chicago.