Twin towers leading the way for Elgin
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Last season was a lean one for the Elgin boys basketball team.
And by lean, I mean just one finger was required to count the team's wins in district play.
"That's been part of our motivation this year -- getting back at people that beat us up pretty good last year," said Wildcats head coach David Schmitt.
Very simply, it has worked.
At 22-4 overall and 9-2 in district this year, the Wildcats are off to their best start in school history.
What are the odds of such a dramatic turnaround in one year's time?. It's hard to say, but this sports reporter's best guess is about 1-in-285, or the frequency with which identical twins are born.
"Everyone brings it up, how fun they are to watch, the way they play together -- and they make everyone else play together like that. That's the secret to our success, the way we play together as a team, and that goes through them," says Schmitt.
Them is Trey and Troy Nash, the frontcourt that drives the Elgin train.
Trey leads the Wildcats in scoring and is second in rebounding.
Troy is just the opposite -- the team's leader on the glass and second-leading scorer.
And true to their DNA, the brothers play perfectly off one another.
"Something tells me he's right there," Troy says.
"When I pass it, I can't feel it, but," adds Trey.
"I throw it, and he's there," adds Troy.
"It's real fun playing with my brother," Trey concludes.
And playing on others with his brother, as they've been known to do.
When Troy didn't like his art class and Trey didn't like his ag class, they did what any look-alikes would.
"We'd just go in the bathroom and hurry up and change clothes, and just switch -- he'd go to my class and I'd go to his. And they never knew we had a twin," recalls Troy.
Opponents, however, know all too well. Few have beaten the Nash-led Wildcats this year, and the two hope that's how things continue deep into the playoffs.
"We want to win state and stuff, so it's going to be hard to get there, but we're going to try the best we can," says Trey.