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Turnovers hurt South Elgin in loss to Belvidere

ROCKFORD - Too many turnovers cost South Elgin early. The Storm put itself in an early hole with 17 giveaways before halftime and never recovered in a 62-47 boys basketball loss to Belvidere at the District 205 Tip-Off Classic at Guilford High School.

Tyler Hankins led South Elgin with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Justin Howard and Damien Young added 7 points apiece in the Storm's season opener.

South Elgin found itself staring at a 25-20 halftime deficit thanks in part to lax ball security.

"On the road, you've got to take care of the basketball," said first-year South Elgin coach Jim Cook. "That's super-important. We didn't do that at the beginning and that's how we dug ourselves a hole."

The Storm put together a 10-1 run spanning the first and second quarters to take its biggest lead of the night at 16-12, but the Bucs answered with a 13-4 spurt of their own heading into halftime.

South Elgin's deficit continued to grow in the second half as the Storm couldn't close out on the Bucs' shooters. Belvidere shot 50 percent from the floor in the third quarter while expanding its lead to 43-31. The Bucs led by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter.

The Storm may have had some first-game jitters as well.

"It was the first game and they finally got it over with," Cook said. "Hopefully, we can put it behind us and move forward."

Led by the 6-foot-9 Hankins, South Elgin held a 25-23 rebounding advantage, but 25 turnovers largely negated that edge.

Nate Horton scored 21 points off the bench for Belvidere, while Austin Revolinski added 12.

With South Elgin trailing 11-6, Young made a steal and fed Anthony Lynch for a layup just before the first-quarter buzzer. Smith started the second period with a steal and layup to get the Storm within 1. South Elgin eventually took a 16-12 lead on a bucket by David Binion. But Horton hit a pair of 3-pointers to put Belvidere back in front to stay.

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