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Elgin hangs on to beat Streamwood

You typically don't see Elgin boys basketball coach Mike Sitter sporting a beard.

And had the Maroons lost to Streamwood Friday in Upstate Eight River action, the two-week layoff for Sitter's shaver would've been over.

Instead, Courtese Cooper's block on Keenan Cole's layup attempt with 2 seconds remaining preserved a 48-46 victory over the Sabres, giving Elgin its fourth-straight win and another four days of the bearded Sitter.

"If we would've lost tonight I could've shaved," remarked Sitter, who hopes Bic will pick him up as a spokesperson. "But you can't mess with the juju."

Or Cooper, either. It remains to be seen what the juju has in store for Elgin (16-12, 4-6) Wednesday against Geneva, whose 26-game undefeated streak was snapped at the hands of St. Charles North, 62-60, in overtime Friday. But Cooper and his 6-foot-8 frame made the play of the night when it mattered most.

After Reggie Cole split 2 free throws with 11.8 left, the Sabres (7-24, 0-12) had one last shot to either tie or go for the win and wanted to use Jason Manalansan as a decoy after hitting two 3-pointers in the final 1:15 to cut into an 8-point Elgin lead.

The play looked as if Manalansan was going to get the ball in the left corner on a series of screens along the baseline. Instead, Sabres guard DeAngelo Flynn, nearing the left wing, dumped it off to a wide open Cole at the right elbow with 4 seconds left with the Maroon defense drawn to the corner.

Cole, who at first had hesitated after catching the pass, had an open lane to drive and chose to do so. Cooper, however, raced over from the left block, timed it perfectly and made the stuff with his left hand.

"I wasn't going to let Jason shoot so I followed him," said Cooper, who finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. "But when I saw the pass I turned to my left and (Cole) had a wide open layup and I rushed as fast as I could and took care of it."

The block ended up in the hands of Malcolm Davis-Wilder near the right elbow with 1 second still on the clock but his shot clanked the far back of the iron after the buzzer.

"I thought the kids executed the play on the fly nearly perfect," said Sabres coach Paul Kowalyszyn, whose team shot at 30.7 percent clip in its fifth-straight loss. "It just didn't work out the way it was supposed to."

Reggie Cole led all scorers with 15 points while Titus Ahrens drained two 3s to finish with 8 points to help lead Elgin, which shot 10-of-22 from the field and led by as many as 5 in the first half.

Streamwood's strong third quarter included a Keenan Cole slam to tie the game at 29 with 4:45 left prompted Sitter to sub his starters minus Cooper.

The message was received as Reggie Cole came alive in the fourth. Cole followed Cooper's 3 with 6 minutes left with two straight layups in part of a 10-0 run that put Elgin up 45-35 under 4 minutes to play.

"It was the ball movement," Cole said. "We started seeing (double teams) which caused guys to be open easier and we just used our basketball IQ to do what we have to do and score."

Streamwood's Cole led the Sabres with 13 points off the bench to go with 5 rebounds but Manalansan rallied the troops. All 6 points came off the money ball, including one where he faded out of bounds to cut the lead to 1 with 14.3 left.

"Going into regionals, that's what we're trying pitch to the kids," Kowalyszyn added. "You guys are much better than your record indicated. We got a 10-seed in the regional, I think we're the scariest low seed in the sub-sectional that nobody wants to play."

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