South Elgin rolls over ACE Tech
South Elgin wants to play its brand of basketball no matter who the opponent is.
The top-seeded Storm ambushed Chicago ACE Tech with an impressive 18-2 run in the opening four minutes and cruised to a 75-46 opening round victory Wednesday night in the 90th Annual Chuck Dayton Holiday Classic hosted by DeKalb.
Six-foot-6 junior Vince Miszkiewicz and 6-foot-4 senior Noah Rohr paced South Elgin (7-2) with 13 points each while Christopher Hankins and Latrell Lamarca contributed 8 points apiece as part of a balanced offensive effort.
"I didn't know what we were going up against, so we just had to do what we do best and push the ball," said Storm coach Brett Johnson. "We started the game just like that and that got us in the flow we wanted to be in."
"That's our motto all the time. If we can outrun teams and beat them down the court that's how we succeed," said Miszkiewicz, who also grabbed a game-high 8 rebounds.
South Elgin was a model of efficiency on offense, shooting 58 percent from the field overall (30-for-52) while hitting 8-of-18 attempts from 3-point range. The Storm racked up 19 assists while 11 players found their way onto the score sheet.
Drake Montgomery and Jace Warrick both finished with 7 points. David Binion and Mohammed Rahman chipped in 6 points each.
"It was nice to get other people the opportunity to score tonight and 19 assists is really good for us," Johnson said.
South Elgin led 43-19 at halftime behind 13 points and a pair of slam dunks from Miszkiewicz. The Bobcats (2-2) managed to pull to within 51-31 before the Storm rattled off the final 9 points of the third quarter, highlighted by consecutive baskets from Hankins and a Rahman trifecta.
The Storm's only shortcoming on the night was committing 19 turnovers, with 14 of those coming during a disjointed second half.
"We have to clean that up because our game against Lemont is going to be very tough," Johnson said.
Lemont advanced to Wednesday's 8 p.m. quarterfinal against the Storm with a 61-55 victory over Chicago Vocational.
The Indians (7-4) feature an impressive front line with 6-foot-9 senior center Paul O'Leary and 6-foot-7 junior Nate Ferguson, who combined for 43 points and 17 rebounds in their opening round victory.
"We made have to double front and give them different defensive looks to see if we can contain," Johnson said. "It will come down to who will execute on offense and who gets stops on defense."
"We just have to play hard, play good solid defense and contest everything," Miszkiewicz added. "We have a big responsibility as the number one seed. We want to own up to own to that and show everyone that we're deserving of that seed."