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South Elgin downs Glenbard East for 6th straight win

The goal as of now for the South Elgin boys basketball team is to be at the top of its game by season's end.

And it's hard to argue after the last 4 weeks that the Storm isn't moving in that direction.

Winners of 7 of its last 8 games and an 8-2 record in 2017, the Storm upped their win streak to six after a 59-37 rout of Glenbard East in Upstate Eight Valley action Friday, thus proving that the changes coach Brett Johnson has made of late is helping South Elgin reach its goal.

"They're having a lot of fun right now and they're working hard," said Johnson. "We've added some different offensive looks. We have some very different personnel looks we can throw out there. Other guys are stepping into a different role and it's nice to know I can do that, that this group can transfer between different things and still run things well."

But one key that might go unnoticed is how the team is coming together in the chemistry department. A prime example of that came in the second quarter when the Storm looked to senior captains Logan Atkins and Collin Uveges to spark the team and correct a bad start filled with 25 percent shooting and 7 turnovers.

The tandem traded 3-pointers to start and scored 15 of the team's 20 second-quarter points, a quarter where the Storm (14-5, 3-3) shot 61.5 from the field and outscored the Rams by 9 to take a 12-point lead into the half.

"Collin and I have been playing with each other since the seventh grade," said Atkins, who led all scorers with 22 points to go with 4 rebounds. "We've had that chemistry where we can go off each other and I told Collin we had to make something happen and we did."

Uveges bombed two 3s in the early moments to stretch the lead to 9 with 5:31 left. His putback with 1:25 left and Atkins' subsequent steal and layup put South Elgin ahead by 15 and it was clear the unit fed off one another to create some separation.

"Me and him really pickup off each other's energy," Uveges said. "And our teammates are really good at carrying that. They don't let it die down, they get up with us and it starts in practice and we all compete. And when we bring it in the game everybody steps up."

Junior Noah Rohr reached double figures with 10 points on two 3-pointers while the South Elgin starting lineup (David Binion, Vince Miszkiewicz) accounted for 50 points. The Storm finished 9 of 17 from distance, as 3s by Atkins and Rohr helped fuel a 14-5 run to start the fourth to cap their biggest lead to 25 when a late third quarter run and a surge by East made it a 12-point game.

"And for us that's good," Johnson said. "We need to have multiple runs in the game. If you can have more big runs than the other team, you're ultimately going to win the game."

Runs were big for the Storm, but the turnovers were huge for the Rams (1-20, 0-6). While the Storm committed 20 overall, East had 23 and a frustrated shooting night as it shot just 26.6 percent from the field. Alijah Nelson led the Rams with 11 points.

"We've got to be able to take care of the ball," Rams coach Scott Miller said of his young team. "We gave away too many possessions. I thought we did a nice job defensively with all their guys, we just gave away possessions and you can't do that."

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