For Elgin, Tuesday night’s bitter 56-46 overtime loss to Glenbard South in the St. Charles sectional semifinal will be remembered as a game of “what ifs.”
What if the Maroons were able to cut their 26 turnovers in half? What if they had taken advantage of Glenbard South’s woeful 8-of-33 shooting from the floor and 14 of 26 from the free-throw line? And what if Marcus Smallwood hadn’t picked up his fifth foul late in the fourth quarter and could have played in the overtime period?
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Glenbard South (26-2) isn’t worried about “what ifs.” At this point of the season, their battle cry is “why not.”
“In my 29 years of coaching, this is the most confident group I’ve ever had,” South coach Dave Lohrke said. “Some might say they border on cocky. But they believe they can get it done by sticking together.”
In a back-and-fourth game throughout the contest, the Raiders needed every bit of strength to pull this one out in the steamy gym conditions. Even as they held a 46-42 lead with 19.1 seconds remaining, it wasn’t over.
Colin Williams’ three-pointer for Elgin with 12 seconds remaining cut the lead to one, but South’s Mat Gruidl was intentionally fouled by Smallwood (12 points, 14 rebounds) with six seconds left to apparently end the game.
Gruidl missed both free throws and South’s attempt to run out the clock with a long in-bounds pass into its back court went astray. A streaking Jason Randazzo grabbed the ball under the Elgin (24-5) basket and tossed it blindly back up court into the hands of Elgin’s Anton Patterson. Patterson fed to Marcus Howard (14 points), whose 5-footer was short.
In the ensuing scramble on the floor, a South player signaled for a timeout as the clock appeared to run out and fans mobbed the court. Elgin was awarded two technical free throws (Glenbard South was out of timeouts) and 01.1 seconds was put on the clock. Howard missed the first free throw, but netted the second to send the game into overtime.
Which is where the Raiders took over, holding the Maroons scoreless. Chris Smith (16 points, 12 rebounds) scored four of his team’s 10 points.
The Raiders hit just 4 of 8 free throws in the extra period, but this time it was enough.
“We thought we had the game won at the end,” Smith said. “But heading into the extra period we told each other we had nothing to lose. “
Arian Rios scored 14 points and Brandon Thomas 10 for South.
Phil English.
Morton: Mike Krga scored 19 points as St. Ignatius advanced to Friday’s sectional final with a 51-33 victory over Catholic League-rival St. Rita.
St. Ignatius (22-6) took control early, scoring the game’s first seven points and leading 12-3 after the first quarter. St. Rita (19-9) had just one field goal and shot 1 for 8 from the field in the first quarter.
“We came out with a lot of emotion,” Krga said. “We have been waiting for this for a couple of years. We got off to a good start and just kept going.”William Lauer led St. Rita with nine points.
Fenton: Jitim Young scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Michael Lang added 14 points as Gordon Tech elimated Niles North 49-36. Gordon (23-6) led throughout and put the game out of reach with an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 48-29 lead.
“We knew we had to stop their back court,” Gordon coach Scott Bogumil said. “We felt if we pressured their guards we would take them out of their offensive sets.”
Fremd: Despite missing all eight of its free-throw attempts in the game, Hoffman Estates trailed New Trier by only five points with under four minutes to play. But New Trier promptly went on a 10-2 run to take control and advance with a 55-42 victory. All 10 points came from the free-throw line for New Trier (26-4) which shot 18 of 24 from the line.
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Matt Lottich led the Trevians with 22 points and Ivan Pjevceric added 14. Bill Goehrke scored 12 points for Hoffman Estates (16-12).
Galesburg: Brad Novak scored 15 points to help Rock Island edge DeKalb, 57-52.
McHenry: Blake Lotzer scored all 17 points in the second half and Mike Britton added 16 as Rockford Boylan edged Rockford Guilford 61-54.
Neuqua Valley: West Aurora made it three straight over Naperville Central with a 63-45 victory. Derik Hollyfield led West Aurora (27-1) with 18 points and Jamal Thompson added 17. West Aurora put the game away with a 20-1 run at the end of the second quarter and start of the third.
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“On our team it’s always someone different to step up,” Hollyfield said. “Tonight I stepped up. [Friday], it might be Jamal or Louis [Smith].”
Waukegan: Matt Vandaele saved a pass from going out of bounds and passed the ball to Aaron Moore for the game-winning layup and free throw with five seconds left to give Warren a 42-40 victory over Grayslake. Moore and Mark Klemm each scored 11 points to lead Warren (21-6), which closed the game by scoring five unanswered points.
“I was in the right palce at the right time,” Moore said. “Vandaele saved it–that was one of the biggest hustle plays we had all year.”
Eric Bauer led Grayslake (22-7) with 20 points.