Hawks keep Grens idling
After losses to Prospect and St. Patrick last weekend, Elk Grove was hoping for a new beginning.
Maine South made sure the Grenadiers still felt that way after a 64-46 nonconference boys basketball win at Elk Grove on Tuesday night.
The Hawks's first-quarter pressure led to 8 turnovers, a bunch of easy baskets and an 18-9 lead.
The second quarter was more of the same, as Maine South led 31-9 before Nick Rathman got a shot to drop for Elk Grove with 3:11 left to play in the first half.
"They came out ready to play, and we did not," said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman. "It's really about that simple.
"Based on our recent losses, we had some things we'd hoped to implement, but we never got the chance."
From that low point in the second quarter, Elk Grove (5-12) actually outplayed and outscored Maine South. Kevin Zelaya canned a 3-pointer and made 2 free thows, Andy Larson made a 3 and Brian Battaglia hit a free throw with two seconds left to make the score 35-19 at the half.
"We had a good idea of what we wanted to do defensively," said Maine South coach Tony Lavorato Jr. "We wanted to run our defensive stuff well fundamentally because that should lead to easy baskets, and we wanted to run hard. We did all that - at first.
"To be honest, I'm not very pleased with what happened the rest of the way. What happened is, Elk Grove played hard, tip to tip, and things started to go their way."
Elk Grove kept 6-foot-7 junior standout John Schlitter at 8 points and 7 rebounds, well below his averages of 16 and 8. But junior guards Justin Wasik (19 points) and Pat Maher (8) seemed to control the pace of the game and provide a bucket or assist when Maine South (10-5) needed one.
Matt Martinski tied for game-high scoring honors with 19 points and Zelaya finished with 9. But about the only thing that pleased Furman was how his second unit finally answered Maine South's intensity.
"It's just disappointing," he said. "This is a team we're going to see in our sectional. We have to look at these games as opportunities to get wins, but there aren't that many more chances.
"It's nice that we were able to hold our own after a certain point, but losing by 16, 18? There are no more moral victories."
Senior forward John Alviti scored 10 points and had 9 rebounds for the Hawks.
"He's one of our football players, and it's taken him until the middle of January, but he's really starting to hit his stride here for us," said Lavorato, whose team went 1-3 in holiday tournament play at York but has yet to lose since. "Hey, things are looking up for us - we're undefeated in the new year."