South Elgin continues torrid pace, runs by Hampshire
Through its first 3 games of the season, South Elgin's basketball team has shown a propensity for fast-paced, end-to-end action.
The Storm improved to 2-1 on the young campaign with an 82-74 victory over Hampshire (0-3) in Friday's third round of the 60th annual Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament at St. Charles East.
Senior 6-foot-7 forward/center Vince Miszkiewicz turned in a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds to lead the way for the Storm, which also received a 17-point outing from senior guard Drake Montgomery.
"All three of our games have been fast-paced," said Storm coach Brett Johnson. "We've given up 224 points in three games which isn't ideal but we're finding ways to score and create other problems for teams.
"This group of guys wants to run - they want to push the tempo because it's a little more fun."
Miszkiewicz, an athletic big man, scored 13 first-half points which included 7 free throws, as South Elgin turned a 23-22 deficit into a 39-33 halftime advantage.
"We love to play get the rebound and run - find the outlet man and push it," said Miszkiewicz.
The Storm also outscored the Whip-Purs 24-15 at the free-throw line while winning rebounding battle, 41-35.
"That's a goal of ours - to outshoot teams from the free-throw line," said Miszkiewicz. "Coach (Johnson) wants us to make more free throws than they attempt. If we do that every game and win the rebound battle, we'll more than likely win."
South Elgin finished with more free throws (24) than Hampshire attempts (23).
Miszkiewicz displayed his penchant for fast breaks, closing out the first quarter with a left-handed windmill dunk before finishing an ally-oop inbounds pass from Montgomery with a 2-handed jam to extend the lead to 64-60 with 6 minutes remaining.
"He couldn't buy a bucket the other night (in a loss to St. Charles East)," said Johnson. "He took a lot of tough shots. Today was a little better. He's a senior who understands he's a very important cog in our system.
"He needs to do what he does well which is aggressiveness at the rim, rebound the ball and get putbacks. If he keeps doing that, he's going to get a double-double every night because it's an intensity-effort thing."
Senior Jace Warrick added 16 points, including three 3-pointers, for the Storm while freshman Lane McVicar came off the bench to score 9 points.
Junior guard Collin Woods paced Hampshire with 20 points, while junior Jackson Millison added 13 points and 9 rebounds. Freshman Kenyan Davis finished with 10 points for the Whip-Purs, who trailed 78-73 with 1:38 remaining.
"It was that second quarter," said Hampshire coach Ben Whitehouse, whose team was outscored 23-12 in the period. "They made a couple big 3s where we didn't execute defensively.
"It was a highly competitive game. That's why we're here. We're playing against high-quality competition the likes our program has never gone against."