Pauletti's shot lifts Bartlett over Jacobs
Bartlett guard Tyler Pauletti missed a contested jump shot at the end of regulation that would have beaten Jacobs in Wednesday's Class 4A Bartlett regional semifinal.
The 6-foot-2 junior didn't let the opportunity to play hero slip away a second time in a thrilling 42-40 overtime victory.
With the scored knotted at 40 and the clock winding down in the extra session, the Hawks gave the ball to leading scorer Ryan DiCanio, who had been held to 2 points on the night by a combination of Jacobs defenses.
Guarded by 6-foot-4 Jacobs senior Matt Bindi at the top of the circle, DiCanio dribbled toward the left edge of the free-throw line, where teammate Jason Hasenberg waited to set a screen. However, Hasenberg's defender - 6-8 sophomore Cameron Krutwig - switched on the screen and forced DiCanio to give the ball up with five ticks left and counting.
"It wasn't my night as far as scoring, but I was able to get my teammates involved," DiCanio said.
DiCanio passed to Pauletti in the left corner. Instead of shooting from the outside, he immediately drove the baseline, split two defenders in the air when he reached the lane and scored on an acrobatic scoop shot with 1.3 seconds left to lift Bartlett to a 42-40 victory over Fox Valley Conference Valley Division champion Jacobs.
"The first time I thought I settled for a jumper instead of driving, so this time I wanted to get to the lane," said Pauletti, who finished with 11 points and 4 rebounds. " I finished and I was happy because I missed the first one. I got the second one to fall and we got the win, so that's all that matters."
Jacobs (22-6), which saw its 14-game winning streak snapped, had one last chance to win or tie. The Golden Eagles inbounded to senior guard Chrishawn Orange at midcourt and his desperation heave that would have won it rimmed out at the buzzer.
Bartlett (19-10) advances to Friday's regional title game against Larkin (19-8) at 7 p.m.
'Hopefully we can beat Larkin," Pauletti said. "That's our goal, regional championship."
Jacobs didn't need to look far to find the reason for its demise: poor shooting. The Golden Eagles shot 14 of 47 from the field (30 percent) and 3 of 20 from 3-point range.
"We had a lot of open looks and we just didn't knock down shots," Jacobs coach Jim Roberts said. "In a game like that when it's a tight game like that the entire way, if you knock down a couple and get (the lead) to 4, 5, 6, maybe stretch it to 7, it feels like about 12 or 14. There in the second half we had a 5-point lead, but we just didn't score for a long, long time. Then it just kind of became a grind."
Jacobs outscored Bartlett 11-2 in the second quarter to take a 21-16 halftime lead, but the Hawks limited the Golden Eagles to 5 third-quarter points to take a 29-26 lead to the final period.
Bartlett trailed 37-35 with 1:10 left when junior reserve Ben Reyes came off the bench cold to shoot 2 free throws in place of Pauletti, who was forced to leave the game momentarily with cramping in his calf.
"I knew he was going to hit those free throws," Pauletti said.
Kenton Mack finished with 15 points and Krutwig added 10 points and 13 rebounds for Jacobs.
Hersey 66, Cary-Grove 57: Hersey sophomore guard Joe Coffaro looks like an eighth grader toiling in a grammar school tournament.
Coffaro doesn't play like a grade-schooler.
Connecting on six 3-pointers, the sophomore scored a game-high 26 points to propel the sixth-seeded Huskies to a 66-57 win over 11th-seeded Cary-Grove in semifinal action of the Class 4A Cary-Grove boys basketball regional Wednesday night.
Hersey will play Palatine for the regional title Friday at 7 p.m. The Pirates advanced with a 74-60 win over Grayslake Central.
"He (Coffaro) was certainly the difference in the game," said Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle. "We have seen him seven or eight times this season, and he probably averaged one or two 3s in those games."
Coffaro, who was 6 of 9 from beyond the arc, also made 6 of 8 from the free throw line.
"Joe has been a consistent player for us all season," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "They were clogging up the lane so we did a good job inside-out, and our shooters had open looks. Joe was outstanding."
Coffaro gave his teammates credit.
"They got me the ball in good position to shoot," said Coffaro. "I shot with a lot of confidence tonight."
The Huskies (18-9) were able to finally get some breathing space from the pesky Trojans (16-12) in the fourth quarter.
Holding a slim 43-41 lead after 3 quarters, Hersey started the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run.
Zak Cooper, Max Heeren and Josh Mailloux each had baskets as Hersey led 49-41 with 6:18 left.
The Trojans refused to quit and got to within 54-51 on a 15-footer by Jason Gregoire with 3:09 remaining.
The Trojans couldn't get any closer.
- Dave Hess