As the senior leader for a relatively inexperienced team, South Elgin point guard Luis Vergara is embracing his role. And he tries his best to keep things simple.

The 5-foot-10 Vergara just gets it. He realizes some of his younger teammates look up to him on the court, so he wants to guide them through the battles as best he can.

“I feel like I have to control the team, make sure that everyone is valuing possessions,” Vergara said. “We know we’re going to face pressure, so just value possessions.

“I feel like everyone has to do their certain roles and not step out too far. We’re doing just enough to maintain success.”

Tuesday’s 59-49 Upstate Eight Conference win over Larkin wasn’t always pretty, but Vergara helped spark the Storm in the second half when they started to pull away.

Vergara led all scorers with 18 points for South Elgin (3-4, 2-0). Ethan Zagore followed with 16 points and Derek Clark added 13. Josh Hibbett paced Larkin (0-5, 0-2) with 14 points. Jahvion Sowers had 11.

Larkin was hanging around in the third quarter when Vergara scored seven straight points. He had a driving layup, a 3-pointer from the wing and a pullup jumper on the wing, extending the lead to 40-32.

While South Elgin led by as many as 15, Vergara tried to apply his own advice to his game in the second half as the Storm pulled away.

“I just wanted to make sure that I had good possessions,” Vergara said. “I knew they were going to come out scrambling. We just want to value possessions and execute.

“The momentum, I just felt like we could keep going with it, and now we can take it to the games ahead of us.”

South Elgin coach Phil Church described Vergara as one of the few veterans on his roster, so he’s comfortable putting the ball in his hands.

“Right now, Luis has the most experience running the point,” Church said. “He’s definitely not happy with how many turnovers he had. Those are fixes we can deal with, small tweaks that we’ll take care of.”

Although the Royals cut the lead to 33-30 early in the third, eight turnovers in that quarter proved too much to overcome.

“We couldn’t take care of the ball,” Larkin coach Deryn Carter said. “Right now we’re turning the ball over too much. We’re in the Christmas season. We’re giving games away.”

But despite the fact the Royals are still looking for their first win of the season, Carter remains positive about his team’s direction.

“We’re going to keep getting better,” Carter said. “As crazy as it sounds, I kind of like where our guys are at. The effort is unquestioned. We’re ready to carry on and add to that.

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“We start with energy and effort. That’s what we’ll build off.”

One hallmark of South Elgin in the early going has been perseverance. Larkin jumped out to a 12-3 lead Tuesday but the Storm wound up winning by 10.

“I think it’s a testament to these guys,” Church said. “They’ve been punched before and they keep battling. Every team we play says the same thing — that we play hard.

“It’s good to turn that into a win.”

Vergara believes people may have overlooked South Elgin coming into the season. Wins like Tuesday’s decision show him and his teammates they have some surprises up their sleeves.

“There are obviously a lot of things we can work on, but I feel like we have a lot of potential,” Vergara said. “I think we can shock some people.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.