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Quilico, Schaumburg hang on against Barrington

Charlie Quirico had a term for it.

“We’re playing ‘Schaumburg basketball,’” he said Friday night after the host Saxons held off a late-charging Barrington team 47-42 for a Mid-Suburban West Division win.

Quirico pumped in 20 points, mostly on outstanding perimeter shooting (8-for-12, with 4-for-6 on 3-pointers) as Schaumburg never relinquished the lead, although Barrington knotted the score late on a hoop inside by 6-foot-9 sophomore Rapolas Ivanauskas.

But Schaumburg never flinched. And ‘Schaumburg basketball’ kicked in.

With the score tied and Barrington seemingly having seized the momentum, Schaumburg (8-12, 2-5) responded. Quilico, who had opened the quarter the same way he opened the game, with a 3, added a driving hoop. And after the Saxons converged on Bronco high scorer Austin Madrzyk (25 points) to block his driving attempt, Brendan Parker, who harassed Madrzyk as much as he could, did some damage on the other end, hitting a crucial 3.

Josh Rahn added a tough drive, and despite a clutch blocked shot by West McDonald on what looked like a press-breaking layup along with a missed front end of a one-and-one by hot-shooting Quilico, Parker and Demetrios Roumbos added 3 more free throws in the final 22 seconds to clinch it.

“I thought we gave a real good effort tonight,” said Saxons coach Matt Walsh, who said he expected as much after a good week of practice.

The Saxons opened with a 9-0 lead as Barrington had turnovers on its first four possessions. But Madrzyk refused to let Schaumburg pull away, throwing in four second-half 3-pointers from all over, the last of which made it 44-42 with 22.6 second left.

“Boy, was he good,” Walsh said of Madrzyk.

“He’s tough, good shooter,” said Quilico.

“He carried us tonight,” said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker, whose club missed a chance to pull within a game of .500 overall and get 1 game over .500 in the division.

Tucker, too, said Schaumburg’s defensive tenacity made the difference.

“They didn’t give us anything easy,” he said of Schaumburg’s defensive stance all night. “We had to earn everything.”

And the Broncos (7-10, 3-4) almost got what they wanted. But Quilico and Schaumburg had other ideas.

“I think Charlie gave us a big lift,” said Walsh.

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