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South Elgin's size does in Huntley

The South Elgin boys basketball team recognized a personnel mismatch against Huntley and exploited it mercilessly in a 77-58 victory at the Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs Saturday.

With Huntley missing its two biggest players for separate family reasons — 6-foot-4 senior Makomborero Tizora and 6-4 junior Olalere Oladipo — the Storm continually fed the ball to 6-foot-9 senior Tyler Hankins, a left-handed pitcher committed to play baseball at Central Michigan.

After South Elgin guards Matty Smith and Justin Howard stroked 3-pointers to open the game, Hankins scored 10 of South Elgin's next 20 points to help the Storm take a 26-10 lead after one quarter.

“My teammates did a really good job of getting it low and I just kept hitting the shots,” said Hankins, who made 8 of 9 attempts for a team-high 16 points and hauled down 8 rebounds.

“We knew that they couldn't stop him, so we kept throwing it to him,” South Elgin coach Jim Cook said.

Huntley (4-4) limited South Elgin (5-4) to 13 points in the second quarter, but the Storm led 39-22 at the break and kept the pressure on with a 9-4 run to open the third quarter, keyed by 2 more buckets from Hankins.

Huntley's JJ Flores scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, but the Red Raiders never drew closer than 16 points the rest of the way.

South Elgin made the idea of a comeback far fetched by shooting 31 of 48 from the field (65 percent).

“They shot the ball well,” Huntley coach Will Benson said. “You always want to make a team get off to a slower start offensively so they don't build up their confidence, but I think they built up their confidence in a hurry and we could never really tear it down after that.”

Howard, Smith and Logan Atkins each finished with 11 points. Senior guard Quinton McClundon added 8 point and his 5 rebounds helped the Storm win the rebounding battle 26-14.

South Elgin resumes tournament play at Jacobs against Prairie Ridge on Monday at 9 a.m. Huntley likewise returns to the floor Monday against Rockford Boylan at 1:30 p.m.

Images: Huntley vs. South Elgin, boys basketball

  South Elgin's Matty Smith is fouled by Huntley's Alec Coss on the way up to the hoop in the third quarter of the Jacobs Tournament Saturday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Anthony Lynch's face gets smashed by Huntley's Michael Parks (12) on the way up to the hoop in the third quarter of the Jacobs Tournament Saturday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  Huntley's Jadrian Flores (center) attempts to shoot around South Elgin's Cameron Nylec (22) in the second quarter of the Jacobs Tournament Saturday. South Elgin's David Binion (32) on left. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  Huntley's Luke Mahnke (left) attempts to swipe a rebound from the grasp of South Elgin's Cameron Nylec (22) in the first quarter of the Jacobs Tournament Saturday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Huntley's Mathew Seng soars to sink a shot in the first quarter of the Jacobs Tournament Saturday. Laura Stoecker/lstoecker@dailyherald.com
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