Schaumburg locks out Palatine
The numbers just didn’t add up for Palatine in the first half at Schaumburg.
Most of that was due to a stifling Saxons ‘D.’
The Pirates managed only 3 field goals in the first two quarters, went 2-for-7 at the free throw line and 0-for-8 from 3-point range to trail 26-8 at intermission.
Schaumburg didn’t let up from there and claimed a 47-30 Mid-Suburban West boys basketball victory Thursday.
“We focused on defense the entire week,” said Saxons sophomore guard Chris Mullaney. “We’re a young team and we’re getting better, and our ‘D’ was there tonight.
“Our coaches are always pushing defense, telling us know our opponents and know our roles — and we were in lockdown mode in this game.”
Schaumburg jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead, and when Brendan Parker (game-high 13 points) canned a long second-quarter 3, the Saxons were up by 20. They extended the lead to 24 in the third quarter when Marquis Woodard made a layup off a sweet feed from 6-foot-4 senior Joshua Rahn.
“We were in attack mode,” said Rahn (8 points). “Our coaches told us to attack the post because Palatine is not the biggest team, and when they doubled we were able to kick the ball out for 3’s and we were hitting them.”
Palatine was able to rally in the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 42-28 with two minutes left on a layup by Chris Macahon, but the Pirates could get no closer.
“We didn’t play at the pace we wanted to tonight, that’s for sure,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. “We got down and went to a press, and it actually got a little worse from there. Our shot selection was poor.”
“But I liked our effort in the second half. It was much better — we competed.”
Justin Chaney led the Pirates with 6 points, while center Johnnie Flynn had 6 points and 10 rebounds for the Saxons.
Woodard, Rahn, Flynn, Parker, Bryce Carlson, Demetrios Roumbos, Matthew Rushing and Mullaney all made big contributions to the Schaumburg defensive effort.
“We had a complete effort last Saturday against Rolling Meadows (in another win)”, said Rahn, “and this one was right up there.”