The points have to come from somewhere for shorthanded Elgin, so it might as well be junior guard Dan Toolsie.
Without leading scorer Reggie Cole, point production has been a problem every game for the Maroons.
The 5-foot-10 Toolsie has continued his crash course in playing more effective offense following Elgin’s loss of Cole due to an illness.
“I think that defense is my thing, my strong suit,” Toolsie said. “At the beginning of the season, Reggie was ineligible, and I had more minutes than I should have, and I didn’t take advantage of them. It was like a slow first half of the season.
“With Reggie going out again, I realized I had to step up. So I’ve been trying more on offense, improving my shot.”
The natural place for more scoring would be center Courtese Cooper. But sometimes, Toolsie has helped balance the attack as Elgin heads into this weekend’s Burlington Central Martin Luther King Tournament.
“Dan’s had a couple double-digit point games, and he’s a fantastic athlete,” Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. “He can jump out of the gym.
“But he’s happy sometimes to just reverse the ball and guard a guy. He can be a real difference-maker when he wants to be.”
Since Elgin (9-6) learned about Cole’s illness, Toolsie has had a season-high 20 points and also a 14-point effort. He’s averaging 9.0 points the last six games.
More Top Picks Best Progressive Reading Glasses
“In practice, when he’s with the subs, he dominates,” Sitter said. “But when he gets on the floor with Courtese and some of the starters, he just wants to defer to them. We’re trying to get him out of that mindset and to come out with attack mode all the time.
“I think a lot of guys have had to step up and play more minutes. (Starter) Tim Wolf has played more and some of the subs. We’re pretty deep — eight, nine or 10 players — so hopefully we’ll get Reggie back, and that will just make us better in the end.”
Elgin opens the tournament at 7 p.m. Friday against Wheaton Academy at Burlington Middle School. The venue shifts to Burlington Central at noon Saturday as the Maroons play Marengo.
Back to work: St. Charles East (11-4, 3-1) will go into Friday’s Upstate Eight River game at Batavia with only one official practice since the virus outbreak that forced postponement of last Saturday’s St. Charles North-St. Charles East game.
Students had no classes Tuesday and Wednesday due to the outbreak, and many missed Monday as well.
The game with St. Charles North was rescheduled for Jan. 31.
Healthy Saints did have an informal, off-campus workout Tuesday at the converted barn gymnasium used by private basketball instructor Chris Conrad.
“Everything is pretty much back to normal today,” St. Charles East athletic director Mike Sommerfeld said Thursday. “We didn’t have an unusually heavy amount of things to reschedule. Kids and coaches all handled it well.”
Reserve call-up: While center Cameron Krutwig remains the primary force for unbeaten Jacobs (14-0, 5-0), the Golden Eagles bench strength can’t be overlooked.
Teams can struggle to squeeze a few baskets a game from their bench, but in the last three games, Jacobs’ Kameron Mack, Adam Kale and Ajani Rodriguez combined for 36 points.
“Kameron, you kind of look at him as a starter, anyway,” Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts said. “At 6-4, he adds a lot of length, and he is shooting the hell out of the ball. Last year, Adam started 20 games. You get energy from Ajani every time.
“It’s a luxury when we can put those guys in and know they give you something different as opposed to just flipping guys in to get others rest.”
Twitter @genechamberlai2