Saxons snap out of it, top Nicolet
MILWAUKEE -- It's hard to blame the Schaumburg boys basketball team for looking a little sluggish during the Saxons' 61-59 win over Glendale (Wis.) Nicolet at the Terry Porter Classic on Saturday afternoon.
Just a day earlier Schaumburg was edged 56-52 by rival Hoffman Estates, and Saturday's snowy bus ride to Milwaukee South Division High School took 2½ hours.
"We had a tough conference game last night," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams. "And (when) you end up losing it's kind of tough to come back from that. And we had (a long) bus ride.
"We had lots of reasons but that doesn't hold any weight. Once you step on the floor you've got to play. I think we finally figured that out in the fourth quarter. We got some emotion going (and we) played a lot better."
The Saxons (4-2) escaped their trip north with a win, thanks to the late-game heroics of junior guard Cully Payne. The DePaul recruit calmly buried a 14-foot jumper in the lane with 30 seconds left to tie the score at 59-59.
Nicolet turned over the ball on its next possession with 9.3 seconds left. Payne then took the inbound pass, ran the length of the floor, and was fouled on a layup attempt with 2.1 seconds left.
He drained both free throws and Nicolet failed to get another shot off before the final horn sounded.
"I was going to win it or lose it for us," said Payne. "(The pressure of making the free throws) didn't bother me."
The Knights (1-2) trailed 28-26 at halftime, but put together a 12-3 run at the end of the third quarter. The outburst culminated in a runner in the lane by Torrance Smith that gave Nicolet a 44-38 lead.
Schaumburg chipped away at the lead in the fourth quarter. A 3-point play on an acrobatic layup by junior guard Perrish Bell, who finished with 14 points, pulled the Saxons within 52-51 with 3:44 left.
A free throw by Brandon Bolger, who also scored 14 points, with 1:47 left tied the game at 57-57. Nicolet held a 59-57 edge after a pair of free throws by Smith with 57.8 remaining.
"(We want to) get the heck out of Wisconsin before they take the win back," said Williams. "It was like we had a monkey on our back from last night.
"They were kind of down. And in the fourth quarter that lifted. I think we learned something about our team enthusiasm, so I'm excited about that."