advertisement

Prokopij, Maine West enjoy victory at Palatine

Maine West boys basketball coach Tom Prokopij couldn't think of a better place to get his first win.

Prokopij, who took over the reins as head coach at Maine West this season, watched as his Warriors knocked off Palatine 61-50 at the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic at Palatine on Tuesday.

Prokopij was the sophomore coach at Maine West for the last three years and was named the head coach of the Warriors last spring. Before that, he cut his teeth as an assistant sophomore coach at Palatine, where he contributed for three seasons.

"It is the first one, so I don't know how else it feels," said a smiling Prokopij. "When I saw the matchups and the first game was against Palatine it was really cool. There are a bunch of people here that I used to work with and it was fun to see them."

What they and Prokopij got to see was a scrappy Maine West team that played well in spurts and struggled at other times.

"I know have a lot of work to do," Prokopij said. "We need to keep improving and hopefully there will be many more to come."

Maine West used an 8-0 spurt early in the first quarter to take the lead and never trailed from there. Led by Jack Framke, the Warriors cruised to a 27-21 halftime lead.

"The offense this season is a lot more free-flowing," said Framke, who finished with 16 points, including a pair of 3s. "I was able to get to the basket pretty well, but I need to work on finishing better."

Maine West started up the second half red hot.

With junior guard Darrington Bates leading the way, the Warriors knocked down their first 5 shots and then got a putback by Jack Collins to complete a 16-3 run as they opened up a 43-24 lead with 4:47 left in the third quarter.

"I was a bit nervous out there," said Bates, who was making his first varsity start and finished with a game-high 19 points with a trio of 3-point baskets. "I was just focused on my defense, and that helped my offense."

Palatine came into the game with plenty of unknowns, thanks to a number of football players who just came out for the basketball team after their season-ending loss last Saturday.

But coach Eric Millstone said football experience will carry over to the basketball court.

"You saw a lot of effort from those kids, and that's what they bring," Millstone said. "The same thing that you saw got them all that success playing football, that's what is going to get them success playing basketball."

Palatine's Johnny O'Shea and Evan Daly led a 16-3 run to close out the half with the Pirates trailing 46-40.

Maine West opened the fourth quarter with 5 quick points and Palatine never got closer than 7 from there.

"We have guys trying to get comfortable to their new roles," Millstone said. "They are trying to incrementally make up lost time. There was no way everything was going to click on day one."

Matt Kentgen came off the bench to score 10 points for Maine West while Randy Kent chipped in 7 points.

O'Shea and Lamon Berry each had 12 points for Palatine while Malik Harding and David Balanganayi each had 6 points for the Pirates.

  Maine West's Jon Beaver, middle, gets to a loose ball ahead of Palatine's Luke Garrett, left, and Lamon Berry during the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic at Palatine on Tuesday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Palatine's Johnny O'Shea, middle, gets fouled by Maine West's Milos Dugalic, left, while the Warriors' Julian Dones defends on the play during the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic at Palatine on Tuesday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  First-year Maine West coach Tom Prokopij leads his team at Palatine. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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.