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Smith's late surge helps Palatine past Schaumburg

R.J. Smith is the kind of guy who can get the most out of 1.2 seconds.

He did Friday night. The Palatine forward drew a shooting foul driving to the basket, hit 2 free throws to break a 48-48 tie with visiting Schaumburg and, after two timeouts, zipped cross court to intercept a three-quarters-court-length pass to seal the 50-48 victory for the Pirates in front of a packed house on a boys basketball senior night.

"I was struggling all game," Smith said after riding the bench much of the time due to foul trouble, and only having 4 points before his 2 big free throws. "Everybody was keeping me up, encouraging me."

He didn't need any encouragement to pick off the ensuing inbounds pass.

"The game plan was to switch on any screen," said Smith - which is exactly what he did.

Palatine improved to 20-7 overall and 6-3 in the MSL West.

The ending was as tense as the entire game. Neither team ever had a double-digit lead. Schaumburg, in fact, hardly ever had the lead. Until the fourth quarter, that is, which it opened with two 3s from guard Demetrios Roumbos and another from Jason Schoo to take the lead and start a 5-minute, 12-second seesaw the rest of the way. Roumbos and Schoo both finished with 12 points.

The Saxons' perimeter shooting and slashing cuts and drives offset Palatine's powerful inside game paced by Mike Williams (18 points), who the Saxons couldn't keep off the offensive boards. Chris Macahon (12) chipped in with a huge 3 for a brief 46-45 Pirates lead, but that just set up Smith's dramatics after Saxons sophomore forward Kameron Powell tied the score with a free throw with 1:01 left.

The final sequence was a reflection of the entire game.

"We made plays. They countered," said Palatine coach coach Eric Millstone said of the tough Mid-Suburban West win. "We knew they weren't going to go away." Despite coming in 10-15 overall and 4-4 in the division, Schaumburg never backed down. Schoo and Roumbos kept shooting them back into the game and Tony Parker's defensive work against sharpshooter Justin Chaney was suffocating at times. But Parker fouled out.

Palatine still has to finish up division play with ever-improving Conant and is happy to be taking a winning record into the game.

"We just have to keep maintaining our tough defense," said Smith, which has been Palatine's trademark this season.

"A win is a win is a win," said Millstone, admitting that Schaumburg's defense had his Pirates "a little out of sorts tonight.

"We didn't play our best game," he continued, "but we still got a conference win."

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