Shaking off the rust
ELGIN -- St. Charles North and Elgin looked like a couple teams coming off 13-day layoffs Thursday.
Playing for the first time since their respective Christmas tournaments, both squads experienced lengthy lulls filled with sloppy play.
Marina Makropoulos | Staff Photographer
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• St. Charles North vs. Elgin
The Maroons struggled from the start, falling behind by 15 points early in the second quarter. The North Stars then saw their play devolve in the second half as Elgin climbed to within one early in the fourth quarter.
However, North managed to regain its composure just in time and never relinquished its lead on the way to a 55-44 Upstate Eight Conference victory at Chesbrough Field House.
"Our intensity in the beginning of the game was really promising and then Elgin matched it and we kind of took a step backward, which is not a good trait to have," North coach Tom Poulin said. "We learned a lot tonight. If we don't bring it and we aren't the hardest working team in the gym, anybody can beat you."
After leading by as many as 13 points in the second half, the North Stars saw that advantage shrink to 39-38 when Elgin's Tom Roth capped a 7-0 run with a basket with 7:02 left in the fourth quarter.
North's starting five, which watched from the bench for the first 90 seconds of the fourth, then checked back in the game and restored order. Mike Kastel and Jon DeMoss contributed back-to-back baskets and Zach Hirsch added a 3-pointer to extend a 7-1 run that put the North Stars ahead 46-39 with 3:36 remaining.
Roth pulled Elgin (5-7, 0-2) back within four with a three-point play with 3:17 left, but the Maroons could come no closer as North's Nick Neari scored back-to-back baskets for four of his game-high 15 points to spark a decisive 9-0 run.
"Even though we struggled, we knew we could pull it together at the end," Neari said. "We just can't have that lapse that we did here against other teams."
That the Maroons were able to climb back in contention was surprising considering their woeful start.
Elgin committed 10 turnovers and connected on only 2 of 13 shots in the first quarter while falling behind 15-4. That deficit eventually extended to 19-4 before the Maroons finally regained their footing.
"I thought that first half might have been one of our worst halves of basketball all year," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "At halftime we talked about it and regrouped and came out in the third quarter and played real well.
"We just didn't have the horses that St. Charles North has. We made that comeback and got within one, but we just didn't have anything left in our legs."
Roth led the Maroons with 14 points. Senior Marcus Redburg added 10 of his 12 points in the third quarter and also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds for Elgin.
Sophomore Josh Mikes tallied 14 points and seven rebounds for North (8-5, 2-1). DeMoss chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.
Both teams had trouble taking care of the ball, with Elgin committing 20 turnovers and North committing 17 giveaways. The Maroons enjoyed a 42-33 rebounding advantage, but the difference came in field-goal shooting as the Maroons were only 30 percent (17 for 60) from the floor while the North Stars shot 44.9 percent (22 for 49).
