Chaney's 30 points, stifling defense lead Rockford Auburn to sectional title rout
Rakim Chaney started out hot and never cooled off, scoring a career-high 30 points to lead Auburn a 69-59 victory Friday over St. Charles East in the Class 4A Jefferson Sectional.
Auburn will now play No. 1-ranked Lisle Benet 7:30 p.m. Monday at NIU. Benet (33-1) barely edged Geneva (25-10) by a 35-34 score Friday. This is Auburn's fifth sectional title under coach Bryan Ott, but first since 2016.
Chaney scored Auburn’s first nine points with three straight 3-pointers. He had 15 points at halftime on 6-for-7 shooting.
“I let the game come to me and stay ready,” Chaney said. “When the ball touches my hands, I am ready and I just let it go.”
Auburn (23-12) also continued the stifling defense it has been playing since it held NIC-10 champion Guilford to two points in the fourth quarter of the regional title game. Until the final 20 seconds of the first half, St. Charles East had more turnovers (13) than points (12), with almost all of those turnovers being Auburn steals.
“That was very fun,” said Adrian Agee, who scored eight points for Auburn. “One thing that Coach is always putting in us is defense, defense, defense. To see our hard work pay off is a great feeling.”
Auburn relaxed some in the second half, but by then it was too late. St. Charles East scored on its last seven possessions of the third quarter but could never cut a 24-point deficit down to less than the final margin of 10.
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Auburn rolls to big lead in sectional title win over St. Charles East
