Game Notes: Elgin High School vs. Auburn High School (3/9/12)

 Final Score
Auburn 67, Elgin 56

Summary
In a fun 4A Sectional Championship game and the first game I've ever called for commercial radio, we were treated to something of a slow start, as neither team really got anything going offensively early on. After a couple minutes of jitters, the Auburn Knights (30-2) started to find their niche, going ahead 11-6 after 1 quarter. In the second they started to pull away a little more, as the Elgin Maroons (26-4) couldn't buy a basket. The Knights led 28-17 at the half. The 3rd quarter started about even, before the Maroons made a huge run towards the end of the quarter, pulling within 3 at 35-32, getting the crowd involved. But in the 4th, the Knights took over, slowly rebuilding their lead as Elgin didn't have enough in the tank to complete their comeback.

Key Stats

• Elgin: 18-52 FG, 17-27 FT. Elgin was just ice cold last night. They shot 1-10 in the opening quarter, and finished 4-18 in the first half. It's amazing to consider that they shot so poorly, but never trailed by more than about 11 points the entire game. But you look at the margin, and those missed free throws loom big over this game. As for the missed field goals, some were poor forced shots, some were great defense by Auburn, and the rest just weren't falling.
• Fred Van Vleet (AUB): 32 pts. All I can say about this kid is, "Wow." The future Wichita State point guard had to step up with Auburn's main big man Jaylin Marshall out with a knee injury. And boy, did he ever. He was able to attack the basket with authority and get to the line (where he was 13-16), and he also hit a couple key 3's in the 4th quarter to put Elgin away. And then for good measure, he assisted LaMark Foote for a beautiful alley-oop dunk with about 30 seconds left that put the exclamation point on the win.
• Kory Brown (ELG): 20 pts. Brown singlehandedly kept the Maroons in the game. He struggled a bit from the line early in the first half (6-9), but attacked the basket in the 2nd half and got some big layups. Amazingly, he played probably about 14 minutes with 4 fouls, somehow avoiding fouling out when there were a couple occasions he could have been called for his 5th, only to have the foul called on a teammate. You have to feel bad for the senior, but he played his heart out in his final high school game.

Final Thoughts
This was a great game in front of a packed house in Carpentersville, IL, someplace I had never been before (and honestly got lost a little bit on my way up... thank God for GPS devices). Both student sections came out in full force, but the A-Team (Auburn's student section) brought their A-game to help Auburn get over the hump. Interestingly enough, security and police had to get involved with fans a couple times and escort them out of the gym (I think one Elgin fan went to confront the A-Team during halftime and had to be forced out of the gym... c'mon, man.)


In what may very well have been my last radio broadcasted game for a while, I got a great game, and had a phenomenal team to work with. Many thanks to Dave Schmidt and Tom Warner, two radio veterans who were called upon with the main guys down in Peoria for being great broadcasters for a great game, and for being two of the nicest guys you will ever meet. I also have to thank WROK Program Director Scot Bertram for giving me the opportunity to put on a headset one more time.