Adduci scores 40, St Charles E. routs Elgin

Dom Adduci turned the St. Charles East gymnasium into his own personal playground Friday night.

The senior guard poured in a career-high 40 points – 32 of those coming in the first half – to help lift the Saints (10-7, 4-2) to an 83-50 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over visiting Elgin (5-11, 1-3).

Pick an adjective – amazing, astonishing, extraordinary, and outstanding – and it probably isn’t enough to describe the kind of first half Adduci enjoyed against the Maroons.

Adduci connected on three consecutive 3-point attempts from the field during the first 2 minutes of the game as the Saints quickly built a 9-0 advantage.

“It felt real good coming off my hand,” said Adduci, who matched the Maroons’ entire scoring total in the opening quarter with 13 points as the Saints grabbed a 5-point lead.

Early in the second quarter, the Saints got senior forward AJ Washington (13 points, 6 rebounds) more involved in the offense and he capitalized with a couple layups prior to a thunderous 2-hand dunk off a picture-perfect pass from Mick Vyzral that extended the lead to 30-19.

However, this night belonged to Adduci, who closed out the second quarter with a human highlight show.

First, he drained an NBA-range 3-pointer to make 35-23.

The next time down court, Adduci received a pass from junior Cole Gentry (8 points, 9 assists) and knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 38-24.

With 2:18 left before halftime, Adduci buried another 3-pointer from the corner as the Saints built a 41-24 lead.

The 6-footer added a conventional basket with 1:25 left in the half, connected on his fifth 3-pointer of the quarter 10 seconds later and capped a showstopping performance with 2 free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt that was halfway down the hoop before popping out at the buzzer.

The electrifying Adduci, who canned eight 3-pointers in the first half, scored 16 points over the final 3 minutes, 35 seconds of the second quarter.

“I felt very comfortable with my shot,” said Adduci. “Once it started going in, especially in that second quarter, the bucket just looked like an ocean to me. I just kept trying to shoot it because I felt so confident.”

“Dom’s the kind of player where once he gets going the basket just gets bigger and bigger for him,” said Saints coach Patrick Woods. “That’s kind of what happened tonight.

“I thought our kids did a good job of trying to find him and set screens for him,” added the coach. “I thought our team did a good job supporting him.”

Gentry was in awe of his teammate’s performance.

“Obviously he has always been a good shooter but I’ve never seen him shoot like that,” Gentry said of Adduci. “It was insane because they were contested (shots) and he was making contested shots over and over.”

The halftime totals told the story – St. Charles East 48, Elgin 27 – with Adduci single-handedly outscoring the Maroons (32 points).

His range was seemingly anywhere on the court and beyond.

“He hit another 3-pointer where he was out of bounds,” said Woods, “and then he almost had an and-1 to end the first half that would have been sweet.”

Junior center Jack Bronec came off the bench to contribute 9 points and 12 rebounds for the Saints, who now prepare for St. Charles North on Jan. 18.

“He’s a physical presence,” Woods said of Bronec. “The more he learns how to be a physical presence, the better he’s going to be.”

Isaiah Butler led Elgin with 22 points, including six 3-pointers.

“We don’t like to play defense,” said Elgin coach Mike Sitter, who employed a 2-3 zone in the first half before switching to man-to-man over the final 16 minutes.

“You saw our man in the second half – it wasn’t any better,” added Sitter. “We’ve tried it all this year. Nothing has helped them put in the effort so until they put in the effort they’re going to get the same result.”