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Elgin routs Rockford Guilford

With the return of senior guard Reggie Cole to full strength after a bout of mono the Elgin boys basketball team seems to be rounding back into form just in time for the postseason. The Maroons won their second straight game on Thursday with a 68-37 nonconference rout of visiting Rockford Guilford at Chesbrough Field House.

Cole, Courtese Cooper, and Tim Wolf each had 14 points to lead a balanced Elgin attack.

"I thought this was like Reggie's coming back party," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said. "It's his third game back, but the first two he was just feeling his way through and getting his legs under him. Tonight he was back to the Reggie we know. He gives us another scoring option and it's nice to have that balance."

Cole seemed to get stronger as the game went on with 9 of his points coming in the second half.

"I felt great out there tonight," Cole said. "My trainer (Tone Shinaul) has been amazing. He's been working with me to get me stronger and back up to speed. I felt I was totally back tonight. Everybody is starting to fill their roles again and hopefully we can keep building a lot of momentum to the playoffs."

Wolf gave Elgin a big lift out of the gate with a pair of 3-pointers followed by a layup to start the game.

"Tim can definitely shoot the ball," Sitter said. "When a team starts out in zone against us like they did tonight the other kids are looking to get Tim the ball. He did a good job of getting us going."

Elgin (14-12) led 21-8 after one quarter, but Guilford pulled back to within 31-28 by halftime.

However, the Maroons blew the game open with a 15-0 run to start the third quarter to extend the lead to 46-28. Dan Toolsie had a 3-pointer and a driving layup to start the run. Wolf later added a couple baskets.

"We didn't like the way they came back on us in the second quarter," Wolf said. "So we needed to put a stop to that and we were able to turn it back around. We want to be playing our best basketball by the playoffs, so this was a good win for us."

The Maroons' defense came up big in the second half limiting the Vikings to just 9 points on 4-of-24 (17 percent) shooting from the field. Guilford's Nick Phillips had scored 17 points in the second quarter alone to get his team back in the game, but was held to just 7 in the second half.

"We tried to limit his touches in the second half," Sitter said. "This is not a team we get to scout much, so we had some matchup problems with him in the first half, but were able to make some adjustments. You always like when you are able to hold a team under 40 points."

Cooper narrowly missed a triple- double with 14 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 blocks.

Jordan Chen, Christian Lantin, and Evin Jorgensen all had baskets off the bench for the Maroons in the fourth quarter.

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