Lakes charges back to beat South Elgin
South Elgin's boys basketball team did everything it could to slow down Lakes' Ethan Sage on Friday, but in the end there was just no stopping the 6-foot-3 senior forward.
Sage lit it up for 38 points and also had 9 rebounds. His free throw with 23 seconds left in overtime was the go-ahead point in the Eagles' 72-71 win in the Consolation B semifinals of the Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs.
“We wanted to get the ball inside as much as we could,” Lakes coach Chris Snyder said. “Ethan was definitely our go-to guy all day. He really stepped it up in a big way.”
Sage shot 16-of-28 (57 percent) from the field with all of his baskets coming in the paint.
“From the scouting report we knew we had to work it inside,” Sage said. “My teammates do a great job of pushing me and I try to push them. We came mentally and physically pumped up today.”
Lakes (5-8) had to rally in the final seconds of regulation to even force an overtime. South Elgin led 66-61 with 22 seconds left to play when Benett Haviland hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 66-64.
The Storm then turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play. Lakes took advantage as Dalton Sobrig scored a basket in the post to tie the game at 66-66 with 8 seconds left. South Elgin's last second 3-point attempt by Justin Howard was off the mark sending the game to overtime.
South Elgin (5-8) again grabbed the lead in O.T. 70-67 on back-to-back buckets from Julian Lynch. But once again Lakes battled back. A driving layup by Sage pulled the Eagles to within 70-69. Solbrig later tied the score at 71-71 on a short jumper with 58 seconds remaining. The Storm then turned the ball over to set up Sage's go-ahead free throw.
“It's funny because we just had a game like this in Rockford a week ago where we came back in the final seconds and then won in overtime,” Snyder said. “I think we drew from that experience. We just stayed the course even when we were down and did just enough to pull it out.”
The Storm had two separate possessions in the final 22 seconds of the OT but a leaning jumper in the lane with 5 seconds left by Anthony Lynch came up short. Then, after Lakes missed a pair of free throws, the Storm's desperation 3 at the buzzer was off the mark.
The Storm suffered a major setback when point guard Matt Smith re-aggravated a previous ankle injury early in the fourth quarter and did not return.
“I still thought the other guys stepped up and gave us a chance to win,” South Elgin coach Matt Petersen said. “But we are an inexperienced team that is just learning how to handle pressure situations at the end of games. We had too many breakdowns, but hopefully they learn from it and are in a better position the next time.”
Julian Lynch finished with a team-high 16 points for the Storm. Smith left with 14 points. Howard added 12. Logan Atkins and Damien Young each chipped in 11.