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Can Elgin's 'new' zone defense rattle Larkin?

Elgin boys basketball coach Mike Sitter figured he and defensive coordinator Jeff Howard had no choice.

After seeing their Maroons repeatedly burned for layups by the patient Batavia offense in an 18-point loss on Dec. 8, the Elgin brain trust scrapped their traditional man-to-man defense in favor of a 2-3 zone.

Elgin? A zone team?

"(Howard) hates zone with all of his being," Sitter said at halftime of a Larkin game they scouted Tuesday. "But it allows us to keep (6-foot-7 junior) Courtese (Cooper) in the middle of the lane and be a rim protector, and it allows our athletes to go out and take chances and get in the passing lanes."

Only a few opponents have handled Elgin since the switch. The Maroons debuted the 2-3 zone in a 3-point loss at St. Charles East on Dec. 12, a setback that dropped their record to 4-4 overall, 0-3 in the Upstate Eight River.

Elgin (14-6, 3-3) then reeled off 9 straight wins between Dec. 15 and Jan. 16, including a title at the Marengo Holiday Tournament and last Friday's overtime win against defending division co-champion Geneva.

Elgin lost its first meeting against rival Larkin 84-80 on Dec. 4. It was the ninth straight win in the series for the Royals, though the Maroons still lead the all-time series 79-49.

Can the revamped Elgin zone defense slow Larkin (10-7, 3-2) when the Maroons visit the city's west side for the rematch on Friday at 7 p. m.?

"We've got some things that we think we can do against it," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. "What we do starts on the defensive end anyway. We've got to dictate tempo defensively. They want to play fast. Against their zone we've just got to be patient. We've got to get great shots, not just good shots. That's what you've got to do against a zone."

St. Charles North tried to play zone defense against Larkin last Friday, but Larkin junior forward Christian Negron foiled that plan by scoring 29 points to lead the Royals to a 25-point win.

"Christian had a career night against the zone the other night," Larkin guard Keyvon Kyles said. "We just feed it to him inside and then we play inside out."

Negron shot 12 of 17 in that game and made four 3-pointers.

"You just have to look to find the open spots," Negron said of playing against a zone. "When the shot's open, I'm going to shoot it. If there's a double team, I'm going to look to pass off to whoever is open. We'll take our time with it and get the best shot we possibly can."

If Larkin finds a way to consistently beat Elgin's zone, the Maroons can always adjust.

"If a team doesn't handle it, we stick with it," Sitter said. "If a team handles it, we can always fall back in man."

Elgin is fresh off a 2-2 showing at the Burlington Central Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Tournament last weekend. The Maroons defeated South Elgin 80-68 in their first game of that event to win their ninth straight but later lost to the host Rockets, 60-56.

Sitter said he could understand losing to Central since Elgin was playing its third game in a 21-hour span, but a 70-51 loss to Marengo two days later gave him reason for pause.

"We're better than anyone expected us to be this year, but we're still not where we could be," he said. "I keep saying this but we could be more consistent. We're wildly inconsistent. That's tough as a coaching staff. At least if we were bad, I'd know what to expect every game. But they have flashes of brilliance so it frustrates you when they don't show up."

Central to honor Sportsman: Burlington Central will hold a ceremony to honor the late T.J. Sportsman this Saturday between the boys and girls varsity games on Pack the Place night against Genoa-Kingston.

Sportsman died in a highway accident last June while returning from a fishing tournament he won in Wisconsin, leaving behind his wife, Central graduate Charity Preussler, and their two children.

He played four years of varsity basketball for the Rockets before graduating in 1999. As a senior he was named captain of the Daily Herald All-Area Basketball Team and IBCA All-State. He graduated as the second-leading scorer in school history.

Sportsman later obtained a Master's Degree from Northern Illinois and taught for 10 years at Munhall Elementary School in St. Charles.

"That was really tough for the whole community because he was such a well-known athlete and a father," Central senior Ryan Fitzgerald said. "To have Pack the Place in his honor, he deserves that."

The girls varsity game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with the boys game to follow at 7:30 p.m.

The boys game is a showdown for first place in the Big Northern East between Central (16-2, 5-0) and Genoa-Kingston (11-7, 5-0).

Dawgs in the catbird seat: Batavia (14-6) made it through the first round of Upstate Eight Conference River Division games unscathed at 6-0.

"Most people didn't think we'd come out like this this year, so we're proving some people wrong," said senior guard Canaan Coffey, who has scored 183 of his 329 points via 3-pointers. "It just motivates us more."

Not only do the Bulldogs enjoy a 2½ -game lead on second-place teams St. Charles East (8-8, 3-2) and Larkin (10-7, 3-2), they could benefit from a schedule quirk: St. Charles East and Larkin have yet to play each other and must do so twice in the final 4 division games for each.

Still, no one is ready to concede to the Bulldogs.

"We're right in the thick of the conference race and it's going to be an interesting last 7 games in conference," Larkin coach Deryn Carter said.

Geneva (15-5, 3-3) and Elgin (14-6, 3-3) each sit 3 games back with 6 to play. Batavia plays 4 of its 6 remaining UEC River games on the road, including at St. Charles North on Friday, at Geneva on Feb. 5, at Larkin on Feb. 12 and at St. Charles East on Feb. 24.

The Bulldogs approach the stretch run confidently.

"We have a team that really competes," Batavia coach Jim Nazos said after his team beat Larkin recently. "You may not look on the roster and see size, but you've got unsung heroes like Michael Fee that will block anyone out and he's always the first one to the ball. Just an unselfish player. And someone like Brett Bowman, who does get to each and every loose ball. We compete."

Team player: Larkin coach Deryn Carter insists it's a strategic move, not a demotion.

Junior guard Kashmir Ivy has started the last two games against St. Charles North and Ridgewood while senior all-conference guard AJ Hunter - the team's second-leading scorer at 14.3 ppg - has been coming off the bench.

Carter feels the switch gives Larkin a matchup advantage

"We like the rotation a little more with AJ coming off the bench because we get better," Carter said. "That's always been a comfort of mine as a coach, to get better off the bench. Hats off to AJ because he's willing to do it. A senior, second-leading scorer, he's one of the better players in the area. For him to be man enough or unselfish to accept that role - because his playing time's not going to get hurt; he's going to be playing all the time - that's an unselfish thing to ask a kid to do. But so far so good."

Hunter scored 4 points against St. Charles North. He scored 6 points and grabbed 5 rebounds against Ridgewood.

"Once (Carter) got through explaining how it would help our team and that we'd become better throughout the game, I accepted it," Hunter said. "I'm not the selfish type so I'm not going to be like, 'You know what coach? Nah, I think I want to start. I want to shine.

"If it helps the team with bringing a spark off the bench, I'll do it."

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