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Schaumburg savors winning outcome against Hoffman Estates

As Friday night's Mid-Suburban West boys basketball contest between Hoffman Estates and Schaumburg headed into its final minute, first-year Saxons coach Wade Heisler did something he probably hadn't done since his newborn daughter Piper opened up her very first Christmas presents two weeks prior.

He cracked a huge smile.

After seeing his team put the defensive clamps on the visiting Hawks, he had plenty of reason to grin.

Schaumburg's 53-35 victory evened the Saxons' West record at 2-2 and moved their overall mark to 4-10.

"I think that the credit for this effort tonight goes to our guys who ran their assignments on defense," Heisler said after his team held Hoffman Estates to 12-for-35 shooting from the floor, including 4-for-20 in the first half.

"We had our best week of prep going into this game," Heisler added. "One of the things that we try to do is replicate in practice what our guys will see in game competition, and our performance (versus Hoffman) shows that."

After a 3 from Hawks 6-foot-6 forward Brandon Hall (team-high 10 points) got Hoffman within 9-8, Schaumburg went on a 12-0 tear behind junior Kameron Powell (5 points) and senior Jason Schoo (4 points) before a putback from the visitors' Michael Johnson in the closing seconds of the half ended the Saxons' surge, making it 21-10 at intermission.

After a Powell free throw made it 26-13 at the 5:44 mark of the third, Hoffman Estates produced a 12-6 run featuring 5 points from Jorden Thorton that got the Hawks (7-10, 0-4) within 32-25 with 2:01 left in the period. That turned out to be as close as Hoffman Estates would get.

The Saxons closed out the quarter with a 3-point play from junior guard Jeffrey Asa 24 second later. That was followed by a Schoo layup (for 2 of his 11 points) with 20 seconds left in the quarter to give the home team a 37-27 advantage heading into the game's final eight minutes.

Freshman guard Heze Trotter got things rolling to start the fourth quarter, scoring 5 of his 12 points in a 13-6 run that essentially decided the outcome game in Schaumburg's favor. With just under three minutes left, both Heisler and Hoffman Estates coach Luke Yanule cleared both benches.

For second-year varsity player Powell, who paced the victors with a game-high 14 points, the defensive effort was key. Schaumburg limited Thorton to 2 of 9 from the field for 9 points and forced him into 7 turnovers before he fouled out at the 2:07 mark of the fourth quarter.

"It was one of things that we focused on tonight," said Powell, a 6-2 junior. "If you can make him turn the ball the over you have a chance to throw them off of their game.

"My teammates came up big."

Just as important for the Saxons was getting off to a good start on a stretch in which they'll play 7 games in the next 10 days. Those games include a four-game MLK weekend tourney at Wheaton Warrenville South that commences with a first-round matchup with state power Benet next Saturday morning. A nonconference road trip to Bartlett on Tuesday and a home game against Fremd on Thursday in an MSL West tilt are sandwiched in between.

"We respect all, but we fear none." Heisler said. "Our schedule shows that. The heart, fight and resolve that our kids have shows that. I've been always preaching to our guys how to work like the stonecutter. That if you keep chipping away, the stone eventually breaks. That's what you need to do to in order to compete at such a high level that matches our strength of schedule."

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