When South Elgin’s Ilija Babic goes into a game where he’s the tallest player on either team, he knows the spotlight is going to be on him.
That was the case Monday night for Babic against Elgin, a team with nobody taller than 6-foot-1.
Unsurprisingly, the 6-6 senior forward was the focal point.
“Yeah, who doesn’t like games like that?” Babic said. “If you’re the boss, if you’re the leader, there’s nothing else you can ask for.”
Babic stood tall in taking on that challenge to be the boss, putting up 16 points and 13 rebounds to help the host Storm top Elgin 46-32 in a Class 4A Prospect Regional quarterfinal game.
Sam Mirante scored 12 points and Massimo Nalbono added 10 for South Elgin (11-21), which faces third-seeded Hersey at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the regional semifinals.
Ryan Varghese paced Elgin (1-33) with 10 points.
South Elgin missed its first 14 3-point attempts, allowing Elgin to cut the deficit to 23-19 early in the third quarter. But that’s also when Babic really went to work offensively.
In a 19-4 burst that put the game away, Babic scored eight points.
“I thought his effort was good even in the first half when shots weren’t falling,” South Elgin coach Ryan Storm said of Babic. “He would come up with offensive rebounds. They were trying to do some different stuff with him and it worked out early. We just could not get one to fall.
“Ilija made a couple really big buckets in the second half.”
The rebounding in the first half is something Babic may take more pride in than his scoring in the second half.
“At first, I was just really focused on rebounding because I know I’m the tallest one out there,” Babic said. “Without rebounds, my teammates can’t get second-chance points.”
Elgin coach Kurt Kerrigan understood that Babic would be a problem for the shorter Maroons, so he was still the focus coming into the game.
“Our whole game plan was to take him out,” Kerrigan said. “Eventually, when we had to sporadically go for steals to try to get some momentum, that left some open angles for him to go one-on-one.
“That’s what he can really feast on, when he’s 6-6 going up against a team 6-1 and under. We just had to do what we had to do. We did good for almost three quarters, then ran out of steam.”
Storm coached Babic as a freshman on the sophomore team. Babic was injured as a sophomore, but when Storm took over the varsity before last season, Storm got Babic back again.
He has been impressed with Babic’s development.
“He’s done a really good job down there and he’s taken pride in playing the paint game,” Storm said. “Whereas last year, we had more five-out stuff and he got to operate more on the perimeter.
“He’s really — just because of his development on his body and what we’re trying to do offensively — completely bought in. (Monday) was an example of that.”
That’s not all, either. Storm pointed to Babic’s growth off the court as well.
“The difference in a year in how we communicate, what he’s willing to accept me saying, just all of that has drastically changed,” Storm said.”
Babic confirmed that he has received some NCAA Division III interest for college, but he’s still keeping his options open.
“He’s just got to figure out what he wants to do,” Storm said of Babic. “I think getting into a college program with college coaching could continue to develop what he’s already developed.”
In the meantime, Babic is focused on Wednesday and trying to upset Hersey.
“I’m ready for what’s next to come,” Babic said.
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
