Senior guard Colin Taylor wanted to take another step in his development this season for Bartlett.
Last winter, the 6-foot-4 Taylor began to emerge in his first go-round on the varsity. Still, he toiled in the shadows as Nathan Scearce, one of the area’s best players, owned the spotlight.
With Scearce having graduated, however, Taylor wanted to take control.
“Nate was obviously a great teammate to have,” he said. “We just need players to step up and play as a team. I feel like we’re more of a team without Nathan.”
Taylor led Bartlett in scoring yet again Friday night, a common theme thus far, picking up a game-high 11 points as the Hawks pulled away for a 67-28 Upstate Eight Conference win over Elgin.
Adrian Nankov added nine points off the bench for host Bartlett (2-6, 2-1), which used 14 players in the first half while working through its rotations early in the season.
Adrian Jackson paced Elgin (1-8, 0-2) with 10 points.
Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith, however, has noticed the jump in improvement he had hoped to see from Taylor — as well as sophomore guard Joey Cwik.
“He and Joey have both taken that next step with Nate gone,” Wolfsmith said. “They’ve done a really good job of stepping up and scoring double digits throughout all of our games, even in our tough losses.
“Leadership qualities are there, playing good defense, physical play, inside, outside. He’s developed his game.”
Working to his advantage is a muscular 6-4 frame, which allows Taylor to hold his own down low while also being able to step out and hit a 3-pointer. He also can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim with both hands.
Add in Taylor’s twin brother, Keegan, and 6-6 Dimitre Petrasiunas, who recently returned from a leg injury, and the Hawks suddenly have some size.
“Teams don’t always have guys to match up with him,” Wolfsmith said. “It makes a big difference when I can put Dimitre out there with the two Taylor brothers.
“That gives us a lot of size out there and teams have to figure out how they’re going to guard one of them. They can all pound you inside, but they can also beat you off the dribble.”
Colin Taylor kicked off a decisive 25-0 run in the third quarter that put the game away. He started with a 3-pointer, followed by Cwik’s layup and two conventional 3-point plays from Taylor, before the starters departed the game.
Elgin coach Kurt Kerrigan recognized the mismatch problem that the Taylor brothers present.
“In this league, there aren’t too many bigs that can shoot,” Kerrigan said. “At 6-4, to have some agility and drive with both hands and also hit the three, it’s hard when you have two of them.”
Wolfsmith could see the Hawks starting to put things together last week. Now they’re finding ways to win those games. It’s all part of the evolution he hoped this group would make this season.
“It was good beating Larkin,” Wolfsmith said. “It gave us a good vibe. We just want to play good basketball and we’ve been doing that.
“We haven’t won all the games we’ve played good basketball in, but we’re playing much better basketball. We’re learning how to win.”
After an 0-6 start to the season, the Hawks have won two straight and had close losses to Lake Park and West Aurora right before that.
“It feels great winning,” Taylor said. “It’s good for the team. I feel like our chemistry is better. We started moving the ball around better and playing as a team. We just have to keep moving the ball.
“Starting off the season 0-6, we’re coming back.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
