South Elgin stymies Harlem
ROCKFORD - South Elgin used zone defense to smother Harlem 57-35 in a Class 4A Rock Valley College sectional semifinal Wednesday.
In a matchup between No. 3 subsectional seeds, Storm senior guards Trace Ashby, Jace Warrick and Drake Montgomery closed out on Harlem 3-point shooters Dominic Renteria, David Williams and Treye Tucker and limited the Huskies to 23-percent shooting from beyond the arc (5 of 22).
"We locked up the outside and let them shoot from the inside," Ashby said. "We left the middle open a little bit so their big man would take more shots than their guards because we knew the guards were stronger from three-point range than their big man was in the paint."
Harlem 6-foot-1 senior David Williams, who scored 25 points in a regional title victory over Crystal Lake Central, was held to 8 points, largely because South Elgin 6-foot-7 forward Vince Miszkiewicz guarded the lane like it was his backyard and the Huskies jumped the fence. The senior batted away 6 shots and changed several more.
"I played my game on defense," Miszkiewicz said. "I knew what he wanted to do and I sat there in the paint, blocked his shot, grabbed the rebound and went."
South Elgin (25-8) advances to a sectional final for the second time in school history and the first time since 2014. The Storm will face NIC-10 champion Rockford East (32-2), a No. 1 subsectional seed.
"I think we can stay with them," South Elgin third-year coach Brett Johnson said. "It's a matter of are we going to make shots when we have open opportunities and are we going to defend the way we defended tonight when we have to get it done. If we can do that, we can give ourselves a chance at the end and that's all I can ask from this team."
The Storm broke to a 15-7 lead through one quarter and led 28-18 at halftime. They opened the third quarter on a 9-4 run and extended the lead to 15 points when Miszkiewicz grabbed one of his 16 rebounds and fired an outlet pass to Montgomery for a transition bucket.
That scenario repeated itself on a loop as Harlem (20-12) missed 24 of 30 second-half shots and the Storm won the rebounding battle 35-27.
"Their length in that zone, it caused some problems," Harlem coach Mike Winters said. "It kind of changes some passing angles and forces guys to step off that 3-point line a little bit. Uncharacteristically, we missed a lot of good looks, too. We're a really good shooting team and we shot 27 percent."
The Huskies made 14 of 51 field-goal attempts. Tucker scored a team-high 17 points.
Miszkiewicz scored 17 points, Montgomery added 14 points and 5 assists, Warrick contributed 9 points and Ashby scored 8 for South Elgin, which has never advanced to a supersectional.
"We put ourselves in position to be successful," Johnson said. "Now, we have to go up against a very, very good Rockford East team. Hopefully, we can compete, do the best we can and see what happens."