Schaumburg dumps Elk Grove for 5th straight win

Schaumburg's boys basketball team is finding a way to grind out some wins.

The Saxons did just that Tuesday, holding off a pesky Elk Grove team 64-48 in a Mid-Suburban League crossover game in Schaumburg.

"Sometimes you have to win ugly," Schaumburg coach Wade Heisler said. "Anytime you can come up with a 'W' and learn from it that is a good thing. And we have a lot to learn still."

Chris Hodges, who has played steadily all season for Schaumburg, broke loose on Tuesday. The sophomore netted a season-high 23 points. He also had 3 blocked shots and his defensive presence in the paint kept Elk Grove from venturing in there very often.

"I just let the game come to me," Hodges said. "I felt that I just had to step up today."

Schaumburg (6-2), showed some flashes of brilliance, by playing good defense, forcing 14 turnovers and getting to the rack for some easy baskets. The Saxons did show that they need some fine tuning, turning the ball over 21 times against Elk Grove's half-court trap.

"We all like to dish it out," said Heze Trotter, who had 13 points and 6 rebounds for the Saxons.

"Sometimes we make too many passes. That is a huge issue and we need to clean it up."

Elk Grove (2-5) took advantage of those mistakes to stay in the game until the end.

The Grenadiers led 8-2 early before Schaumburg closed out the first quarter by scoring the final 12 points to lead 14-8 and never trailed from there.

Elk Grove stayed with Schaumburg, trailing 30-27 at the half.

The Grens were still within reach with 5:43 to play when they trailed 51-44.

That's when Schaumburg took over.

The Saxons scored 10 unanswered points, with four different players tallying points to burst out to a 61-44 advantage with 2:03 to play and put the game away.

"It is the same thing over and over," Elk Grove coach Nick Oraham said. "We just had too many turnovers. We forced their turnovers but what are we doing with the turnovers? We didn't do a whole ton."

Elk Grove was led by Ryley Rathman who had 19 points and Jordan Miller, who came off the bench to score 12 points on three 3-pointers.

Schaumburg got 8 points from Michael Hodges and 5 points each from Jarod Schoo and Vaurice Patterson.