Overtime no bonus for Schaumburg
ROCKFORD -- Was it or wasn't it?
With just one second left in regulation against Rockford Boylan, Schaumburg's Brandon Bolger fired what looked to many to be a 3-pointer.
Why does it matter so much?
A 3-point basket at that point would've put the Saxons up 68-67 and made them champions of the Boylan boys basketball Thanksgiving tournament.
According to the official, however, it was ruled a 2-pointer and the game went into overtime.
"I don't know, I thought it was a 3," Bolger said. "Someone told me that a ref (signaled a 3). I thought it was but I guess it wasn't."
Bolger's redemption came with a real 3 in the overtime but that was about it as the Saxons (3-1) watched the Titans (4-0) rally for a 78-70 win and the tournament title.
"It was probably a 2-pointer," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams. "There are plays all throughout the game that we need to be making. Our rebounding was atrocious. We gave up way too many offensive boards. That's something that we have to correct.
"Had we not done that, we wouldn't have needed that shot. (Boylan) got a ton of second shots. Even in overtime, those second shots were the ones that got us."
Bolger had an outstanding game with 23 points.
"We played our hearts out," he said. "If we would've rebounded, I actually think we would've won the game."
Cully Payne led Schaumburg with 25, including three 3-pointers. But the day's two-game schedule took its toll and with 3:27 left in regulation, a cramp put him on the bench.
"I'm (feeling) all right," Payne said. "I cramp really easily. We had two games today and we had to play a lot in the first game, too. I was a little bit drained."
Just a few seconds later, he was joined on the bench by Dan Slowik (8 points) with similar trouble. Factor in George Kalousek fouling out and Schaumburg faced overtime missing three starters.
"We had two games today, that's part of it, I'm sure," said Williams, whose Saxons beat Rockford Jefferson 79-63 earlier on Saturday. "We learning how play hard this early in the season and how to play both ends of the floor.
"That takes a lot of energy and I think they just wore down a bit."
But the effort was still there in the overtime.
"I was proud of our kids," Williams said. "One of our mottos -- and I stole this but it's good -- we're all in. What we mean by that is that we expect a certain level of effort and a certain level of focus. We expect every kid on the team to have that."
Besides rebounding, Boylan had a lot of offensive threats led by Zach Opheim's 26 points. Phil Riggs (14), Stephon Valentine (14) and Michael Edwards (12) were all strong for the Titans.
Perrish Bell added 10 for the Saxons.
Against Jefferson, Bolger had another outstanding game with 22 points. For the day, he netted 45 points and eight 3-pointers.
The Schaumburg offense was really on in the first game with Payne (14), Sean Everitt (11), Anthony Iannotti (8), Bell (7), Mick Trimarco (6) and Kalousek (6) all making strong contributions.
"It was a great tournament for us," Williams said. "It identified areas we need to improve. We're in a great spot. We're playing with a lot of enthusiasm and effort. I'm happy with it, but certainly not satisfied."