Fourth-quarter free throw shooting lifts Storm past Comets

STERLING — The Bureau Valley Storm used 16-of-19 free throw shooting in the fourth quarter to slip past the Sterling Newman Comets 60-52 at Sterling High School Saturday night in the final night of the Sauk Valley Shootout.

While his team was able to register the win, coach Brad Bickett believes that the Storm has better basketball ahead of it. The Storm turned the ball over 23 times, including 17 turnovers in the first half.

“It wasn’t one of our better efforts,” he said. “I expect a lot more than what we got tonight, I think that all of our coaches do. I think that we are short-changing ourselves. We’ve got to come back next week and work really, really hard in practice. Hopefully, we will have it better by next weekend because our play tonight doesn’t reflect Bureau Valley basketball.”

The Storm finished 2-3 in the shootout, marking its last appearance as they will compete in the Wethersfield Thanksgiving Tournament next year.

The Storm took the lead for good when Clifton Maxwell hit the first of a pair of free throws with 3:51 to play in the game. Alex Franklin got the rebound as Maxwell’s second shot missed and laid it in for two of his 12 second-half points. The Storm was a perfect 10-for-10 from the line down the stretch to extend the margin.

Tyler DeVenney led the Storm with a double-double (17 points and 10 rebounds) on the game. Three other Storm reached double-digits. Alex Franklin came off of the bench to score 14. Austin Peterson and Peter Elliott added 10 each. The Comets’ Dan Estrella led all scorers with 19.

It was turnovers in the half-court by the Storm that allowed the Comets to stay in the game in the first half. With the Storm unable to mount the run that would put them away, the Comets were able end the first quarter up 12-11 and head into the locker room tied at 22 at half time.

In the third quarter, it was errant shooting by the Storm and a solid rebounding effort by the Comets that gave Newman a slim 38-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.