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Schaumburg slams door on St. Charles E.

Taking the court after East Aurora's Ryan Boatright left the crowd at the 52nd annual St. Charles East/Ron Johnson Thanksgiving Tournament “oohing” and “aahing” Friday night, neither Schaumburg or St. Charles East were able to match the future Connecticut guard's 55 points.

After trading the lead four times early in the fourth quarter, the Saxons' defense and decision making made the difference down the stretch allowing Schaumburg to pull away to a 50-38 victory.

Schaumburg (2-1) will play Downers Grove South for third place at 6 p.m. Saturday while the Saints (0-3) look for their first win at 2:30 p.m. against St. Charles North.

It looked like the Saints might get that win Friday when Kendall Stephens and Dan Ditusa opened the fourth quarter with 3-pointers for a 34-33 lead.

But the Saints turned the ball over 10 times in the final 8 minutes while Saxons coach Matt Walsh went deeper on his bench to find a difference-maker.

Joe Faleni, who had not played in the first three-plus quarters, scored back-to-back baskets to give the Saxons a 38-36 lead after hustling on the defensive end for a rebound and helping force 2 turnovers. Faleni finished with 6 points in the final four minutes.

“Joe was tremendous,” Walsh said. “We were a little disappointed we weren't getting to loose balls or long rebounds and he certainly made a difference. He was rewarded for his hard work and hustle.”

After Kurt Kempema scored 2 of his game-high 18 points to make it 40-36, the Saxons stretched their lead by hitting 6 of 8 at the free-throw line.

Despite fouling to get the ball back, the Saints attempted just 8 shots from the field in the final quarter because of all their turnovers.

“It's tough to win like that,” Saints coach Brian Clodi said. “You have to give Schaumburg credit. They made a couple more plays than us and we didn't help ourselves.”

Trailing 12-9 after one quarter, the Saxons opened the second on a 13-0 run. Kempema scored 12 of his points in the first half which ended with the Saxons ahead 24-21. They led 30-28 after three quarters as the pace slowed for both teams.

“We are a good defensive team but we are capable of being better,” Walsh said. “One of the nice things of coming to this tournament is we see different styles of play. It will do nothing but make us better.”

After averaging 22 points in the first two games, Schaumburg's Javon McDonald scored 7 against Charlie Fisher and the Saints' box and 1.

With Illinois assistant Jay Price joining Northwestern's Bill Carmody and Purdue's staff that has come to see Stephens this week, the sophomore led the Saints with 15 points and 4 steals. Ditusa added 7 points, Johnny Hondlik grabbed 8 rebounds and Spencer Motley scored 5 points in his first game of the season.

“At the end of the day we had a chance to win,” Clodi said. “I thought our defense was great.”