Elgin falls twice at Burlington Central tournament

The Elgin boys basketball team was mistakenly listed as the Rockets on the scoreboard and the Maroons played like a team that had lost its identity.

An energetic McHenry squad jumped all over Elgin in the opening half, connecting on eight 3-pointers to build a comfortable 33-10 halftime advantage.

Although the Maroons played much better in the second half, they never seriously threatened and dropped a 55-34 decision Saturday night in the Burlington Central MLK Classic.

It was a tough day overall for Elgin (10-8), which lost a heartbreaking 59-57 contest to Marengo earlier and saw guard Trevon Morris go down with an apparent knee injury against McHenry.

"We got punched in the mouth that second game. Everybody was still upset and worried about the first game that they didn't put it out of their mind," said Elgin coach Mike Sitter.

"We were able to play a lot more guys in the second game and saw some good things from them, so that was the positive part."

While Elgin shot just 3-for-20 in the first half, Gavin Markgraff (18 points) hit a trio of 3-pointers for McHenry while Gio Calabrese (18 points) and Maki Mohr (12 points) each hit a pair.

The Warriors (10-7) also dominated the boards 21-11 in the opening half.

"We need to respond when teams come out and play that physical against us like a football game and we didn't do that tonight," Sitter said.

"Defensively we were really good. We contested shots, rebounded and ran," said McHenry coach Tim Paddock.

Courtese Cooper collected 13 points, 13 points and 4 blocks to pace the Maroons while Dan Toolsie, Latrell Hudson and Titus Ahrens added 5 points each.

Elgin will face Hampshire Monday at 1:30 p.m. in the fifth-place game.

Marengo 59, Elgin 57: The Maroons lost their first game of the day as Tim Wolf had 14 points and Cooper 13. Morris and Toolsie added 10 points each.

"We missed three free throws in the last three minutes, we had a couple of turnovers, and gave up a couple of offensive rebounds and that will get you beat every time," Sitter said.