Guard Logan Atkins and his South Elgin teammates badly needed their confidence restored after last Friday’s loss to East Aurora.
They achieved it, no thanks to stubborn Aurora Christian.
Atkins regained his touch for 23 points Tuesday and the Storm executed flawlessly down the stretch for a 62-58 victory at home.
“My main goal is consistency,” Atkins said. “After the East Aurora game I was really frustrated with my shot.
“I went to the gym and just got up a bunch of shots and I feel like it definitely helped me with this game.”
Atkins, a 6-foot-3 senior, made two extra shooting sessions pay off by going 9-for-14, including 5-for-7 on 3-pointers.
“He made a lot of outside shots because his teammates drove and kicked it out,” South Elgin coach Brett Johnson said. “If you work on that continuously, you’re going to make them.
“That’s what we’ve been stressing in practice is you’ve got to distribute the ball. You’ve got to pass the ball around and play as a team because we don’t have one star, but we have a lot of bunch of players who play hard.”
The Storm (8-5) overcame a nine-point deficit in the third quarter before hitting big baskets late to deny Aurora Christian (7-6).
“I think we’ve been in enough games that we’ve had to fight and claw back,” Johnson said. “That has helped us. We don’t give up. We keep playing hard.”
The Storm trailed 55-49 with 4:56 left before going on a 6-0 run. Atkins’ 3-pointer, Noah Rohr’s free throw and Vincent Miszkiewicz’s layup off Collin Uveges’ assist tied it.
South Elgin needed another Miszkiewicz layup off an Uveges assist to go ahead for good, 60-58, with 1:06 remaining.
“Collin cut, I slipped in and I got position on the guy, and I laid it in,” Miszkiewicz said. “We just kept working our offense, even if the shots weren’t there.
“We have to finish a little bit better at the (basket), but as a team we finished all together at the end.”
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Following a defensive stop, David Binion sank two free throws with 17 seconds left to ice the win.
“I told him in the huddle, ‘You’re going to make both, and then this is what we’re going to do,’ ” Johnson said. “I had confidence in him.”
Rohr scored 10 points and had eight rebounds playing mostly around the basket. But he moved out to 23 feet for the biggest of South Elgin’s eight 3-pointers with 1:56 left to give the Storm its first lead since the second quarter, 58-56.
“He’s kind of really our quiet kid, but he stepped up big,” Atkins said.
South Elgin survived a 19-point night by Aurora Christian’s Tanner Dissell.
“We definitely had to get this back tonight,” Atkins said. “Now, hopefully, we’re going to play (at) West Aurora Friday and we’re going to make a statement.”
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