advertisement

Burns, Hoffman Estates sink Schaumburg

There’ll never be any Hack-a-Shaq technique employed against Sabren Burns.

Not the way the Hoffman Estates senior shot free throws in crunch time Friday night against Schaumburg.

A muscular 6-foot-6, Burns was the biggest player on the court, but showed a deft touch at the foul line in the fourth quarter.

The senior made all 6 of his free throw attempts in the period and added three big rebounds down the stretch as the Hawks defeated the visiting Saxons 54-43.

Hoffman bolted to a 9-0 lead in the contest but had to hold off a late Schaumburg rally to score the Mid-Suburban West win.

“Technique,” said Burns to describe his foul shooting prowess. “Coach (Luke Yanule) tell us it’s all about practicing the perfect technique, and focusing.”

“I’m proud of Sabren,” said Yanule. “He’s had his struggles, but the whole team is proud of him tonight — especially his performance at the free throw line.”

Down at one point by 15, Schaumburg made a game of it behind a strong second half from 6-4 senior Josh Rahn.

Rahn scored a game-high 20 points, with 18 of them coming in the fiinal two quarters. Most of them came as a result of hard drives to the basket.

“I’m proud of the way my guys played, especially in the second half,” said Saxons coach Matt Walsh, “but tonight you’ve got to give all the credit in the world to Hoffman Estates.

“They played well, and they’re well coached.”

Hoffman held a double-digit lead most of the game, with most of the thanks for that going to Jordan Robinson. The senior scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed 9 boards.

“We just had no answer for Robinson,” said Walsh. “He might be the best player in our conference.”

Schaumburg was twice able to close within 6 points, the last time coming with three minutes left in the game after a long 3 from the corner by Rahn.

But the Saxons couldn’t get any closer thanks to Burns, who scored 8 of his 10 points in the final period, and some scrappy defensive play from guards Jorden Thornton (10 points) and Trevor Pye (8 points).

Junior Brendan Parker scored 10 for Schaumburg while Hoffman got 5 from sophomore Brandon Hall off the bench.

“Our guys are committed to playing Hoffman-Estates style basketball,” said Yanule. “We kind of got away from that in our last two games against Fremd and Conant, but to their credit the guys have recommitted to it.”

“Schaumburg is an incredible team,” added Yanule. “The play hard from beginning to end. We just tried to match as hard as they played.”

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.