Charger boys escape Maroons in OT

Elgin's Tom Roth (left) loses possession of the ball to Dundee-Crown's Jeff Beck as the Chargers defeat the Maroons 58-52 in overtime Tuesday during the regional semifinal at Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville.
(Shauna Bittle/Staff Photographer)

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CARPENTERSVILLE -- Conventional wisdom might say Dundee-Crown was almost caught looking ahead Tuesday, but that doesn't give Elgin nearly enough credit.

The fifth-seeded Maroons played one of their finest games of the season and took the top-seeded Chargers to overtime before losing 58-52 in the Dundee-Crown Class 4A Regional semifinals.

D-C improves to 20-5 with the victory, securing the third 20-win season in program history. The Chargers advance to Friday's regional title game, where they'll either face rival Jacobs or Huntley.

However, D-C's postseason party seemed on the verge of being crashed Tuesday as Elgin (11-17) proved up to the challenge. The Maroons never trailed by more than three points in regulation and enjoyed the upper hand for much of the night before fading in overtime.

"We weren't expected to win," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "But we thought we were just as good as any team in this regional. We thought we could have won it tonight. We let one get away from us. There are a lot of disappointed kids in the locker room."

The game's biggest play arguably came in the closing seconds of regulation near midcourt. With the score tied at 50, Elgin came out of a timeout with 15 seconds left hoping to hold for one last shot.

Senior Tom Roth, who tallied 15 points and had the hot hand down the stretch, took a pass near the half-court circle, but he was whistled for an offensive foul with nine seconds left when D-C senior Justin Strzelczyk tumbled to the floor after absorbing some contact from Roth.

"We watched a lot on film yesterday and I noticed that he lowered his shoulder a lot when he made his move so I just jumped in front of him and fell down," Strzelczyk said. "Coach said to be aggressive because we had three (team) fouls at the time and I didn't have any."

Suddenly it was D-C that had the ball with a chance to win. Senior Jeff Beck, who led all players with 26 points, misfired on a runner in the lane with three seconds left. Teammate Marcus Henry then snared the rebound, but he couldn't finish the job on a point-blank attempt at the buzzer.

Nonetheless, the final seconds of regulation gave new life to the Chargers, who potentially could have seen their season end had Strzelczyk not drawn the charge on Roth.

"It was a relief," D-C coach Lance Huber said. "It gave us a chance to get into overtime and we were just able to breathe."

Added Sitter: "We would have like to have had a chance to win it in regulation. We didn't get that chance."

D-C trailed by as many as six points in the second half, but used a 6-0 run highlighted by a pair of breakaway baskets to open a 48-45 lead with 5:03 left in the fourth quarter.

The Maroons refused to go quietly, though, as senior Marcus Redburg completed a three-point play and Roth followed with a pull-up jumper to put Elgin back ahead 50-48 with 1:31 left. Beck quickly followed with a floater in the lane at the 1:13 mark in regulation to tie the score at 50.

That's where the score remained going into overtime, but the Maroons struggled in the extra session, making only 1 of 6 field-goal attempts and committing two turnovers. Despite those shortcomings, Elgin didn't trail by more than one possession until D-C's Aaron Reams split a pair of free throws to put the Chargers ahead 56-52 with 26 seconds left.

Redburg matched Roth with 15 points and also pulled down a team-best six rebounds. Senior Steve Edwards added 14 points for the Maroons.

D-C center Charles Kimbrough complemented Beck's strong perimeter play by tallying 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

"(Elgin was) a tough team and they played us hard," Beck said. "Every game from here on out is going to be everyone's best shot. It was definitely a tough game and we're happy to come out with a win."