Palatine coach Ed Molitor figured his troops were in for a dogfight when Mid-Suburban League rival Schaumburg came in for the Palatine regional of the Fremd Class AA sectional complex Wednesday night.
But Molitor didn’t need to fret. His Pirates more than answered the call with a 62-48 victory that had relatively few rough spots despite a game-high 25-point performance by Schaumburg’s Greg Teele.
Palatine went on a 7-0 run in the first two minutes, forcing Schaumburg into seven first-quarter turnovers en route to a 15-8 lead. The Pirates sank seven of nine shots in the first quarter.
“We had a great deal of respect for Schaumburg and coach Bob Williams,” said Molitor, whose Pirates improved to 21-5. “We knew they’d come over here ready to play, so we knew we’d have to get off to a good start. Our kids displayed a lot of poise in standing off Schaumburg’s late charge.”
Schaumburg (9-17) managed to come within 44-42 with 3:17 left before Marc Boone (17 points) sank two free throws and Tony Harvey (24) converted a three-point play to give Palatine a 49-42 lead with 2:28 left.
Teele was 10 for 10 from the free-throw line and sank two three-pointers in the fourth quarter in a valiant effort to keep Schaumburg in contention. He scored 16 of his team’s 20 fourth-quarter points.
Del Washington finished with 13 points for Palatine.
In other action, Prospect (8-18) tried to hold the ball, but Fremd (19-7) advanced with a 59-37 victory. “It’s what we prepared for for the last week,” said Fremd coach Mo Tharp. “I felt if we played our defense and didn’t get beat on the back door that it would be harder for them to hold on to the ball than it would be for us to play defense against it.”
Dan Laya had 16 of his 23 points in the second half to lead Fremd, which was up 21-7 at halftime. Keith Lozowski added 10.
Prospect got within 21-14 by scoring the first seven points of the third quarter. But then Fremd went on a 12-0 run to close out the quarter. The Vikings held Prospect scoreless for a 4:23 stretch in the in the third quarter.
Hoffman Estates held off Buffalo Grove 65-62 despite 23 fourth-quarter points by the Bison’s Carl Hren. Hren hit five three-pointers in his spree, but Brian Wayer (20 points) led a balanced attack for Hoffman (12-12).
In one of the few upsets, Addison Trail (12-14) rolled to a 26-12 first-quarter advantage and went on to dump Rolling Meadows 73-65 as Mark Valintis scored 33 points, Todd Kotarski and Jason Biniak 13 apiece and Pete Siotropos 10.
Brian Frederick managed 13 points to lead four players in double figures for Rolling Meadows (17-9), which trailed 40-35 at the half and was outscored 33-30 over the last 16 minutes.
Stevenson sectional-Rico Stringer and Chad Kasdin each scored 16 points as Lake Forest (20-6) edged North Suburban rival Zion-Benton 53-47. Greg Adams had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Zion-Benton (9-17).
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“We were a little disorganized without Josh and it took us awhile to settle down,” said Lake Forest coach Bob Olsen, lamenting the loss of starting point guard Josh Lerner, who sprained his left ankle severely five minutes into the game.
Lake Forest took the lead for good with :59 left in the third quarter at 39-38 following a layup by Stringer. Before that, the game had seen six lead changes and five ties. A technical foul and two turnovers late in the game denied Z-B any chance for an upset.
“We regained our composure and showed a lot of discipline in the fourth quarter,” Olsen added.
Jason Justus’ 28 points led four players in double figures as Stevenson (17-9) eliminated Grant 88-56.
Matt Heldman scored 32 points, Jamie Carruthers 20 and Sean Devine 12 as Libertyville (15-11) dumped Deerfield 80-68. Jay Mansavage tallied 25 for the Warriors.