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Jacobs dumps Palatine to stay unbeaten

Jacobs showed just how dangerous it could be in two big spurts that keyed a 55-35 boys basketball victory over host Palatine in the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic on Friday.

A 15-point run to start the second quarter helped the Golden Eagles (3-0) erase a 4-point deficit. A 13-2 burst in the game's final 4:49 sent them on their way to Saturday's 4:45 p.m. championship game against Deerfield (2-1).

One scary part for opponents was guards Cooper Schwartz and Ryan Phillips combined for 22 of their 31 points and 6-foot-8 Loyola signee Cameron Krutwig scored only 4 points during the two outbursts.

"It was pick your poison tonight," said Palatine coach Eric Millstone after Krutwig still got his typical double-double with 11 points and 11 of Jacobs' 36-18 rebound advantage.

"The big question going into the season was do they have guards," said Phillips, who had 11 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. "We want to show each and every night that we can play. We want to show people it isn't just Cam and we're good players as well."

Schwartz has done that all tournament and had a game-high 20 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. His driving 3-point play and the first of his four 3-pointers started the turnaround from a 14-10 deficit after a quarter to a 25-14 lead 3:17 before halftime.

Jacobs extended the lead to as much as 14 points in the third quarter. Palatine (1-2) got within 42-33 on a Jake Moertl (8 points) drive with 5:02 left, but Schwartz answered as he ended a drought of six straight missed 3s with one from the corner off a feed from Phillips.

"If he misses 5 shots he doesn't care, he's going to take the next one," said Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts.

"They were flying around Cam and a lot of teams are going to do that," Schwartz said after shooting 7-for-16 from the field and 4-for-11 behind the arc. "Guys have to be ready to knock down shots and be basketball players."

Depth won't be an issue as Jacobs used a 10-player rotation and picked up its defense after Palatine's hot start. Mason Materna also hit a 3 in the fourth quarter and Nik Balkcom and Jack Nickoley add to the overall size that will be tough for offenses.

Now the goal is to turn the quick bursts into more sustained stretches of solid play.

"We've had times of great, really high-level basketball and times where it's been low and we've looked really bad," Phillips said.

"It's early in the season, but that's a poor excuse to make because it has to be better," Schwartz said of a team coming off a sectional semifinal appearance.

"(Assistant) coach (Jack) Denny put it best, things are a little choppy right now," Roberts said. "Our passing and catching isn't very clean. But we'll get better."

So will Palatine with the bulk of its rotation just a week removed from a trip to the Class 8A state football semifinals. Six-3 junior Johnny O'Shea (10 points, 5 rebounds) and 6-0 Scotty Elter (6 rebounds) battled Krutwig, junior Evan Daly had 7 points off the bench and senior Matt Garner made some big hustle plays.

"We hit a couple of shots early and then I think fatigue started to set in a little bit," Millstone said. "But I told them after the game, everything we're gaining this week is because of effort and the execution part will fall into place the next couple of weeks."

Palatine will play for fifth at 1:45 p.m. against Waubonsie Valley, which beat Tilden 69-39 to improve to 2-1 under first-year head coach and former Hoffman Estates player Jason Mead.

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