Elgin has an easy time with Holy Trinity

Just because the outcome of Tuesday's game against Holy Trinity was decided early on doesn't mean there wasn't plenty to gain out of the lopsided win for the Elgin High boys basketball team.

The Maroons rolled to an easy 86-24 win to improve to 2-0 at the West Chicago Turkey Classic. The blowout allowed for plenty of work on plays and plenty of playing time for some guys off the bench.

"I was glad they zoned us up the whole game," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "It was a good chance to work on going up against that type of defense. I thought our ball rotation against it was very good. We worked on getting multiple touches and looking for the open shot."

The Maroons scored the first 24 points of the game and led 30-2 after one quarter. Six-foot-8 senior center Courtese Cooper played a big part in the opening surge. He scored 9 of his game-high 18 points, which included a pair of slam dunks on drives to the basket in the opening quarter.

"The coaches and my trainer have been telling to be more aggressive going to the basket," Cooper said. "I've been trying to do that. Tonight I had some chances to take it inside. We were able to set the tone early and work on a lot of our set offensive sets."

The defense played a key role, too, forcing 26 turnovers.

"We wanted to dictate the tempo with our pressure," Sitter said. "It opened up the floor and got us off to a fast start. I thought the kids did a good job of coming out focused and taking it serious."

The Maroons' starters saw limited time after the big early lead, which gave some reserves a chance to open some eyes. Tre Morris, Roy Panthier and Matt Turner were a few of the players that stood out according to Sitter, whose team had 14 different players score in the game.

Morris had 5 points and help spearhead the Maroons' defense. The 6-4 Panthier had 4 points and 5 rebounds while Turner had 8 points, including a pair of 3-pointers off the bench.

"These guys off the bench allow us to go with different looks," said Sitter. "Tre Morris does a really nice job of pressuring the ball on defense. Roy Panthier gives us some added height and a bigger athletic guy out there that can crash the boards. Then Matt Turner can hit some outside shots. So it's nice to have that versatility and be able to have a bigger lineup or a smaller lineup when we need it."

The Maroons face possibly their toughest test at the tournament on Wednesday when they face Schurz.