South Elgin breaks free from Hampshire
Vincent Miszkiewicz and host South Elgin answered Hampshire's third-quarter run with a push of their own to win 53-41 in a regional semifinal Wednesday.
No. 3 South Elgin (23-8) jumped to a 22-11 halftime lead over No. 5 Hampshire (15-17), but the Whip-Purs opened the third quarter on a 17-7 surge to draw within a point.
Junior Collin Woods, who did not play in the first half for disciplinary reasons related to Hampshire's final regular-season game, sparked his team. The 6-foot-5 guard scored all 8 of his points during the third-quarter run, which was capped by a Jackson Milison 3-pointer that drew the Whips within 29-28 with 2:12 left in the period.
Miszkiewicz responded with a putback, resulting from one of his 12 rebounds, thereby igniting a 10-1 run that put the Storm in control for good.
The highlight of the night came with the Storm leading 41-31. Miszkiewicz and a Hampshire player were chasing a loose ball at midcourt. The 6-foot-7, 205-pound South Elgin senior made a full dive to reach the ball first, tapping it ahead in one motion to senior guard Trace Ashby for the bucket.
"He's a hustler and that's a big play," South Elgin guard Drake Montgomery said of his teammate. "For him to step up and make that dive - I didn't even think he was going to get it, personally - but he put his effort on the floor."
"Anything to help my team win," said Miszkiewicz, who finished with 19 points, 5 blocks, 4 assists and three thunderous dunks. "In regionals we have to play as one team. If we do that, we can go pretty far."
South Elgin regained a 5-point lead early in the fourth quarter after a three-point play from Montgomery (15 points).
The Storm then switched to a 2-3 zone defense. The Whips shot 4 of 12 in the fourth quarter, 2 of 9 from 3-point range.
Hampshire didn't fare any better in the second quarter against man-to-man. The Whips were held without a field goal on 14 attempts and scored 2 points on Kenyan Davis free throws.
"We felt like we were able to get to the paint the whole first half, but we were just so concerned about Vince blocking every single shot that we were rushing or we were going up slower than usual," Hampshire coach Ben Whitehouse said. "We were just out of rhythm at the rim."
Though the first-round loss was disappointing, Hampshire made strides as a program year over year, winning 10 more games than in 2017-18.
"It's tough to end the way it did, but to play as a team at the end and to be as competitive as it was, that's a big step forward for us," Whitehouse said.
South Elgin advances to play No. 1 Cary-Grove (21-7) for the regional title on Friday at 7 p.m. The Trojans defeated South Elgin 70-62 on a neutral court on Dec. 22.
"We just need to play tough defense, move the ball and get everybody involved," Montgomery said. "We've got home court, so we have to take advantage of that."
Junior forward Jeremy Rosa Jr. led Hampshire with 14 points and 9 rebounds.