Top-seeded South Elgin falls again
ELMHURST -- An argument can be made that Tom Roth's basket 19 seconds into the first quarter was the most important basket for York on Monday.
Sure, there were many critical points thereafter, but those two points opened the scoring and put the host Dukes ahead in a game they never trailed against top-seeded South Elgin in the third round of the York Tournament.
Playing in the lead proved critical for York, which was able to stay in its zone defense from start to finish. That in turn frustrated the Storm, which officially slipped into its first rut of the year with a 58-50 loss.
After starting the season with seven straight wins, South Elgin (8-3) has now dropped three of its past four games. The top-seeded Storm will try to get back on track in the seventh-place game today against Maine South.
"(Zones) are meant to slow us down and we didn't fast break as much as we wanted to," South Elgin senior Alex Sanchez said. "But we've got to work on that. We can't let stuff like a zone get us out of what we're trying to do."
South Elgin did tie the game at 23 on Sanchez's 3-point basket with 4:22 left in the second quarter, but that's as close as it came to owning a lead. However, the Storm did manage to hang around, never trailing by more than 12 points in the second half.
South Elgin pulled within 55-50 with 53 second left in the fourth quarter on Sheldon Chaney's basket. It remained a two-possession game after York's Kevin Kahovec split a pair of free throws, but the Storm botched its next possession as two players passed up open 3-point looks before the possession ended with a turnover.
The series was indicative of what plagued South Elgin all night as York's 2-3 zone effectively contained the Storm on the perimeter. South Elgin committed seven turnovers in the first quarter and connected on only 8 of 26 shots in the second half.
"They are so well-coached and they are so good off the dribble that we wanted to take away their penetration and keep the ball out of the paint," York coach Al Biancalana said. "The zone was effective in doing that for us."
Will Sullivan was a perfect 10-for-10 from the line and led all scorers with 23 points. Evan Fendley added nine points for York (4-7).
Chaney scored all of his team-high 10 points in the fourth quarter for the Storm. Dani Lopez added seven points and nine rebounds and Jordan Dobler chipped in seven points.
The loss came on the heels of South Elgin's worst defeat of the year Saturday against Oswego, which is a cause for concern for coach Chaz Taft.
"We just didn't come out to play tonight," Taft said. "That's two games in a row we didn't play."
"Guys don't want to shoot the ball when they're open. They want to pass the ball coming off ball screens, they want to pass the ball coming off sets that are drawn up for them. You can't do that. We're putting them in position to score, they've just got to shoot the ball."
Eisenhower 62, St. Charles East 59 -- The miserable start to the season continued for the Saints, who slipped to 0-11 with yet another narrow defeat.
East led 46-44 going into the fourth quarter, but couldn't close out the victory. The disparity in 3-point shooting proved critical as the Saints were only 2 for 12 from long range while the Cardinals knocked down 9 of 21 3-point attempts.
Kevin Senechalle led East with 29 points and seven rebounds. Zach Scott added seven points and Tim Russell chipped in six points for the Saints.
