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Cooper, Elgin handle East Aurora

Courtese Cooper scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half to lead Elgin's boys basketball team to a 67-61 Upstate Eight Conference crossover victory over East Aurora Tuesday night in Aurora.

Cooper, a 6-foot-8 senior center, tallied 11 points in the third quarter as the Maroons (13-12) outscored the Tomcats (6-16) 24-12 to turn a 29-26 halftime deficit into a 50-41 lead.

Trailing 33-28, Elgin went on a 17-2 run over the next 4 minutes as Cooper began the surge with the second of his third-quarter tip-ins.

"They weren't boxing me out," said Cooper, who added a game-high 17 rebounds with 2 blocked shots and a pair of steals. "I went inside and got some easy buckets."

That was exactly what Elgin coach Mike Sitter wanted to see from his big man.

"He missed his first couple (3-point) shots and we tried to get him to go inside more," said Sitter, whose team rebounded from a 0-2 weekend. "Once he got a couple easy ones, then that opened up the outside. That's how we would like him to play - inside-out."

Cooper, who connected on 8 of his 11 second-half field-goal attempts, highlighted the third-quarter run with a 2-handed slam off a picture-picture feed from sophomore guard Latrell Hudson and added a 3-pointer from the corner midway through the fourth period to extend the Maroons' lead to 55-43.

"It was nice to see him do a little of everything - a couple tip-ins and corner jumpers plus he had a bunch of rebounds for us," said Sitter.

Junior guard Dan Toolsie (15 points) hit 4 consecutive free throws in the final 8 seconds to help preserve the victory. Elgin finished 12 of 13 from the free-throw line.

"With the band and crowd and late-game situation, it was nice to hit them," said Sitter. "That's the difference right there. It was a regional-type atmosphere late in the season. That is what you want. It was nice that we followed through on that."

Senior guard Reggie Cole added 10 points for Elgin before fouling out with 2:15 remaining and the Maroons leading 61-56.

East Aurora, led by Jules Williamson (15 points) and Traevon Brown (15 points), cut the deficit to 63-61 on Derrick Harden's 3-pointer with 10 seconds left before Toolsie's late free throws.

"It would have been nice to have finished the game a little bit cleaner than that," said Sitter. "They're athletic and they play hard. At one point, I think we got a little timid. We like to play up and down and when you put the brakes on a team like that, sometimes you don't do it so well.

"We didn't put the brakes on very well today."

Nasir Phillips added 8 points, 10 rebounds and 7 steals for the Tomcats, who had their modest 2-game winning streak snapped.

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