Macahon, Palatine pick up another win

Chris Macahon could not have received a better 17th birthday present Friday night in the 40th annual Jack Tosh Tournament at York.

Macahon intercepted a three-quarter length pass from Elk Grove’s Anthony Bianchini’s with 4.8 seconds left to preserve Palatine’s 54-41 win in the tournament’s second round.

“Coach (Eric) Millstone had us in a 2-2 zone defense with a player on the inbound passer,” said Macahon. “They were going to #24 (Dan Hadler), who is a real good shooter. The pass was over his head and I just moved up and grabbed it. We couldn’t let them take a 3-pointer in that situation.”

The Pirates (6-5), who have won four in a row, will take on Highland Park at 8 p.m. tonight. The Giants rallied from a 9 point halftime deficit to beat St. Patrick 49-35. Elk Grove (7-4) will face the Shamrocks (7-4) at 7:30 p.m.

Palatine led 13-10 after one quarter but then outscored the Grens 16-9 in the second quarter to build a 29-19 lead.

Sophomore Matt Ulrich scored 7 of his 9 points in the quarter. Dondre Watson, who scored 8 points off the bench, chipped in 4 points in the period.

“I thought we defended the perimeter well in the first half,” said Millstone. “We know they have good shooters, and good shooters find ways to score. We also got a lot of solid contributions from a lot of our players. I thought (point guard) Kyle Leber played a real strong game for us.”

“We had a lot to do to get back in the game in the second half,” said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman. “We played better in the second half to get back in the game.”

Palatine led 36-23 with 5:23 left in the third quarter following Nolan Gavin’s basket.

Elk Grove’s Tyler Ingebrightsen hit for a basket and Hadler (16 points) connected on back-to-back 3’s to make the score 36-31.

Mike Williams (9 points) hit for 2 free throws at the end of the quarter to give Palatine a 42-35 lead.

Elk Grove tied the game at 44, 46, and 48 before Macahon hit the second of two free throws with 2:48 left for a 49-48 lead. Elk Grove turned the ball over to the Pirates and Gavin connected on a 3-point play with 1:24 left to give Palatine a 52-48 lead.

Hadler hit another three for the Grens with 1:04 left, cutting the lead to 52-51.

A costly turnover with :25 left gave Palatine the ball and Macahon converted 2 free throws with :21 remaining.

“I want to have the ball down the stretch,” said Macahon. “If I don’t have the shot we want, try to find the player that does. On defense, we dug in in the first half and then hung on. They were very physical underneath.”

With 9.7 seconds left, Scott Furlong who also played well (13 points, 5 rebounds) tried to tie the game but his shot missed.

“We had good shots at the end but they just didn’t fall,” said Furman. “It was a good fight.”

— Greg Swiderski

Stagg 45, Schaumburg 33: Kevin White scored a game-high 19 points and teammate Max Strus had 11 as Stagg dealt the Saxons their first tournament loss at York.

Points were tough to come by for Schaumburg, which was led in scoring by Demetrios Roumbos and Josh Rahn with 5 apiece.

Schaumburg shot 3-for-23 from 3-point range and was outrebounded 29-18.

Next up for the Saxons is Gordon Tech at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Lyons 69, Conant 64: Both teams shot well from the field, but Lyons’ edge at the foul line was a bit too much for the Cougars to overcome at York.

Conant shot 16-for-29 from 2-point range and made eight 3’s. But Lyons went 14-for-16 with foul shooting, compared to 8 of 15 for the Cougars.

Joe Ranallo scored a game-high 26 points for Conant on 10-for-20 shooting with four 3’s. Ryan Blaha had 18 points, and D’Angelo McBride had 10.

Chris Hester had 16 points to lead Lyons, which had five players score in double figures.

The Cougars face Providence in a 3 p.m. game Saturday.

Wheaton North 56, Rolling Meadows 39: The Mustangs trailed by a basket at the half but couldn’t match Wheaton North’s scoring rate in the final two quarters in dropping their second straight at York.

Pat Kramp led Rolling Meadows with 13 points, including three 3’s, and Matt Dolan had 7.

Wheaton North got a game-high 16 points from Jake Heggeland.

Next up for Rolling Meadows is an 8:30 a.m. Saturday game against Lindblom.