Elgin rolls past Wheaton Academy
Elgin 6-foot-8 senior Courtese Cooper utilized his wide array of skills to put the Maroons out in front against Wheaton Academy and senior Tim Wolf's sharpshooting finished the job.
Cooper racked up 19 points, 15 rebounds and 5 blocks while Wolf buried a trio of 3-pointers in final minute of the third quarter, including a buzzer-beating 30-footer, to help Elgin secure a 52-34 victory Friday night in the Burlington Central MLK Classic.
Both players were complimentary of each other after the Maroons (10-6) won for the fifth time in their last six outings.
"Courtese is our defensive anchor, our scorer. He pretty much does everything for us," said Wolf, who collected 18 points. "We wouldn't be where we are without him."
"We were in desperate need of some energy in the third quarter, so when Tim heated up we were getting really fired up and when he hit the last one from the volleyball line, we went crazy," Cooper said.
Cooper displayed his shooting range by hitting 4-of-7 attempts from beyond the arc and scored 13 of Elgin's first 18 points.
Dan Toolsie (10 points) and Wolf followed with 3-pointers for a 26-15 halftime lead.
"Whatever's open. If they let me shoot, I'm obviously going to shoot it," Cooper said. "If they're guarding me really well out there I try to post up and get some easy buckets."
Wheaton Academy (4-10) made a strong third-quarter push and closed the gap to 34-27 behind 3-pointers from Jameson Teuscher and Marcus Bult and 4 free throws from JD Gunn.
Toolsie's steal and hoop stemmed the tide and Wolf's 3-point barrage essentially put the game out of reach.
"Our point guards were doing a good job pushing the ball up the floor and I just so happened to run the break and hit a few wide open shots," Wolf said.
"When Tim Wolf gets hot, he's instant offense," said Elgin coach Mike Sitter. "He can light it up. He can get to the rim, he can shoot from 22 feet, so he kind of carried us through our defensive woes in the third quarter."
"We did a nice job to pull it to seven, but you can't give up three 3s, pretty much uncontested to end the quarter," said Wheaton Academy coach David Osborn.
With Latrell Hudson, Trevon Morris, Wolf and Toolsie handling the ball, Elgin effectively milked the clock in the fourth quarter and limited the Warriors to just 3 points.
"We have a lot of guards and we're pretty athletic, so if we can spread you out we're going to be in a good situation," Sitter said. "We're pretty good at finishing games, it's just a matter of getting the lead."
Gunn finished with 8 points and 7 rebounds to lead Wheaton Academy while Bult and Stephen Garrison added 6 points each.
"We have to execute better, take care of the ball, and play with a little more passion and heart to overcome some of the adversities when shots aren't falling," Osborn said.