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Palatine grabs share of MSL West title

The season-long soap opera that has been the 2017-18 Mid-Suburban boys basketball race had one final Plot twist as Friday's final slate of games were to be played.

It began with the discovery of a substandard playing surface at Schaumburg's gym following Monday's Class 4A girls basketball regional play-in game against Glenbard North. A decision was made to relocate the remaining girls regional games to neighboring Conant.

It also impacted the Saxon boys for their divisional home finale against Palatine on Friday night. That game, too, was moved to Conant, and was a key in sorting out a jumbled divisonal race that still had four teams with a chance to share in the MSL West title.

For Palatine, it boiled down to a simple thing: win, and it would at least share the conference crown.

Thanks to veteran leadership, the Pirates gained control of the game and earned a share of that division title as it beat Schaumburg 61-50 at Perry Gym.

It marked the Pirates' first MSL West crown since 2005, when they shared the honor with Conant.

Both Barrington and Palatine finished 7-3 in the conference. The Broncos advance to the MSL title game against visiting Prospect on Wednesday by virtue of tiebreaker.

"I think it's a great accomplishment for our program," said 10th-year Palatine coach Eric Millstone.

Millstone, who was an assistant to Ed Molitor, Sr. on that 2005 team, credited his club's response to a first-half deficit that had the Pirates (17-11) trailing 14-5 at the end of one quarter.

"Schaumburg had us on our heels early, they got the jump on us," Millstone said. "It's our senior leadership that got us going. It was about our kids doing all of the little things - that turned it around for us."

A putback by Butler football recruit Johnny O'Shea with 6:57 left in the second quarter sparked Palatine for a 16-2 tear. Senior Lamon Berry closed out the spurt with 5 straight points, including a steal and layup to put Palatine ahead 23-18 with 2:21 left until the break.

Schaumburg (2-8, 9-17) answered with a 7-0 run of its own that included 4 Michael Hodges free throws. Schaumburg led 25-23, but Palatine's Luke Garrett connected from beyond the arc to give the Pirates a 26-25 lead at the half.

Berry, a 6-foot senior, finished with a game-high 21 points.

"We stayed positive and got into a flow," Berry said. "We were able to get stops on defense. In the process we were picking each other up."

O'Shea added 13 points and 5 assists, and Northern Illinois football recruit Cortez Hogans added 10 for Palatine.

Hodges led Schaumburg with 13 points, and junior Heze Trotter had 12.

"We struggled defensively tonight," said Schaumburg coach Wade Heisler. "We weren't making better choices with the basketball than we made in the first half. You gotta tip your hat to Palatine - they're a good team."

According to Schaumburg athletic director Marty Manning, the Saxons' playing surface will be redone over the next three weeks, meaning the originally scheduled home MSL crossover with Elk Grove will be moved t. Charles Aldrich Gymnasium at Elk Grove.

In addition, the Class 4A regional that the Saxons were slated to host beginning Monday, Feb. 26, will now be hosted by Hoffman Estates instead.

Manning, in attendance with Palatine AD Jerry Dobbs, gave thanks to his counterparts at both Conant and Hoffman Estates (John Kane and Steve Lacni) for their assistance.

"They both came up huge, this week in particular," Manning said. "It's really great to have a school district where you have five schools that can provide you with help whenever an emergency like this happens and you find yourself in need."

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