Fast finish favors Sachs, Highland Park vs. Palatine
Palatine was denied a chance to make the final four of the Jack Tosh boys basketball tournament in Elmhurst Saturday night.
Highland Park’s David Sachs took an end-line pass from Tommy Sutker with 4.7 left in regulation. He raced down the court, hesitated just left of the lane and then drove it, scoring a layup as time expired to beat the Pirates 44-42.
“I am so proud of our players,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. “Highland Park is a very good team. They made big plays down the stretch. On that drive, they cleared the lane for him to score on the layup. We left it all out on the floor. We battled them. They just made the plays.”
Palatine made a late third quarter run after trailing 29-17 with 4:49 left in the quarter.
The Pirates (6-6) finished the quarter with a 13-0 run that featured two 3-point baskets by guard Kyle Leber. The second came with :13 left and gave Palatine a 30-29 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Giants (9-2) rallied to tie the game at 34 with 5:22 left in the game.
Dondre Watson, who scored 13 points off the bench connected on back-to-back 3-point baskets for a 40-34 lead with 4:32 left.
“When I called a timeout at that point,” said Highland Park coach Paul Harris, “I told our players at that we could keep playing or give them the game.”
Sachs (17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals) hit for a basket and was followed by Luke Norcia’s 3-pointer to make the score 40-39.
Chris Macahon (10 points) countered by putting in a offensive rebound with 2:05 left and a 42-39 lead.
Sachs struck again with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 42 with 1:25 left.
Macahon went for the game-winner in the lane but missed, and while trying to get the rebound he fouled with the 4.7 left. The Giants were not in the bonus, so they inbounded the ball to Sachs on the decisive game-ending sequence.
“Everyone did what they were supposed to do to execute that play,” said Sachs. “We said in the timeout that five seconds was a lot of time to run our play. When Palatine built that lead, we had to stay positive.”
The Pirates were not able to get inside on Highland Park’s various zone defenses but did manage to hit 11 3-point baskets.
“Despite this loss,” said Millstone, “were taking the right steps in becoming a good basketball team. Leber has worked so hard, it was good to see his work cash in when he hit those two 3’s.
Nolan Gavin scored 7 points for the Pirates and Scott Fife had 6, with 3 of his 6 rebounds coming in the fourth quarter.
The Pirates next face the Stagg Chargers at 5 p.m. Monday in the winner’s consolation bracket.
— Greg Swiderski
Conant 59, Providence 43: The Cougars nearly pitched a shutout in the third quarter, holding Providence to 2 points in the third period to earn their second tournament win in three tries.
Joe Ranallo finished with a game-high 18 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field (with a pair of 3’s) and 8-for-10 at the foul line.
Danny Sotos had 17 points and D’Angelo McBride 13 points for the Cougars (8-4).
Conant shot 21-for-26 at the foul line and limited Providence to 6-of-9 at the line.
The Cougars meet Riverside-Brookfield at noon Monday in their tourney finale.
Rolling Meadows 51, Lindblom 41: Matt Dolan made 9 of his 10 shots from the field on his way to a game-high 20 points to help the Mustangs to their first tournament win at York.
Meadows shot 13 of 21 from 2-point range but struggled from 3-point range (2-for-16) and at the foul line (19-for-37).
Jonny Ungurean had 6 points for Meadows (4-8), and Calvin Gunn, Emmanuel Lopez, Pat Kramp and Matt Wojcik each had 4.
The Mustangs meet Glenbard East at 11:30 a.m. Monday in their last tournament contest.
Gordon Tech 53, Schaumburg 36: Octavius Parker shot 6-for-10 from 3-point range, finishing with a game-high 20 points in dealing the Saxons (7-7) a setback at York.
Gordon Tech shot 57 percent from the floor and finished with a total of eight 3-pointers.
Johnnie Flynn led Schaumburg with 11 points and 7 rebounds, and Marquis Woodward had 6 points.
Schaumburg next faces Elk Grove at 10 a.m. Monday.
St. Patrick 55, Elk Grove 34: Adrian Pierzchanowski scored 14 points and Isaac Moore had 12 to help St. Patrick to its second victory at York while the Grens suffered their second loss.
Scott Furlong had a game-high 15 points for Elk Grove, which got a pair of 3’s from Bryan Alcazar but finished 2-for-13 from 3-point range.