Tinley Park deals Schaumburg first loss

Schaumburg's boys basketball team saw it's eight-game winning streak to start the season go by the wayside Saturday afternoon.

The Saxons were defeated by Tinley Park 39-37 at the 12th annual Team Rose Classic at Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago.

"Today we just had some cold shooting and missed too many free throws," said Schaumburg coach Wade Heisler, whose team shot 10 of 18 from the charity stripe. "At times we didn't make good decisions."

Schaumburg (8-1) was facing a Titan team that featured the No. 1 ranked sophomore in the country in 6-foot 8 A.J. Casey.

Casey would be the difference down the stretch in a nip-and-tuck contest.

The Saxons used an 8-2 run to start the fourth quarter to lead 34-29 with 2:26 left in the game. Chris Hodges scored 7 of his team high 20 points in that span.

Schaumburg still held the lead at 35-32 with 1:52 left after a Hodges free throw.

Dantre Cobbs had a putback basket for Tinley Park (6-3) that was followed by a steal by Maurice Evans, who fed Casey for a dunk and a 36-35 lead.

Joseph Sturino scored on a putback with 31 seconds left for a 37-36 lead for the Saxons.

But Casey hit two go-ahead free throws and followed with 1 of 2 for the final score.

A midcourt shot by Jared Schoo fell short of the rim.

Hodges scored 20 points and had 9 rebounds going against Casey and Yitonish Nash.

"He's a big fella," said Casey. "He's strong in the post. I played behind him a couple of times and he just buried me. He's strong and physical."

Tinley Park coach D.J. Brown, a Rolling Meadows High School graduate and son of former Rolling Meadows head coach Dave Brown, was impressed with Hodges.

"We knew that Hodges was going to be a load," said Brown. " And he was. He was very good around the basket. He is a matchup nightmare."

Hodges looked at the loss as a learning experience.

"It was a good learning game for us," said Hodges. "For me it was a good challenge playing against physical people like this. It was tough playing against them."

Schoo scored 6 points but pulled down 11 rebounds for the Saxons.

"This game tells us a lot about our team," said Schoo. "If a few plays go our way we get the win. I think this will be a good learning game for us."

"Jared's rebounding was a key for us staying in the game," said Heisler. "He defended Casey and made him take some difficult shots. As far as the loss is concerned, it will only hurt if we don't learn from it. "