Elgin lets win vs. Saxons get away at end

The calendar says December, but Schaumburg and Elgin took each other's best shots for four quarters of a boys basketball game played with March intensity at Chesbrough Field House Saturday night.

The lead changed hands in every quarter, 18 times total, before Schaumburg escaped with a 64-61 nonconference victory, largely because junior forward Blake Mueller stood his ground.

Elgin (5-2) trailed 62-61 when the Maroons sent Schaumburg junior Perrish Bell to the free-throw line with 16.6 seconds to play.

Bell missed the front end of the bonus and Elgin point guard Jeremy Granger -- who on Elgin's 2 previous possessions had rimmed out a pair of scoop shots that could have given the Maroons the lead -- raced up court once again.

Granger got a step on his defender, drove the lane and shot as he made contact with Mueller, who had shuffled into the lane to try to draw a charge.

Granger's shot banked in, but the official along the baseline immediately waived it off and called Granger for the offensive foul, which gave the ball back to Schaumburg with 9.3 seconds left.

"Earlier in the game I tried to take a charge and they called a blocking foul on me, so I knew I had to get my feet set," Mueller said.

After Cully Payne subsequently sank a pair of free throws to extend the Schaumburg lead to 3 points with 8.3 to play, Elgin's Tom Roth quickly brought the ball up court and dumped it off to senior guard Armani Williams a few feet beyond the 3-point arc.

With a Saxon on his hip, Williams, who led all scorers in the game with 19 points, turned and launched a potential game-tying 3-pointer. However, the shot caromed off the front rim at the buzzer.

"I saw it," Williams said, "but I also saw my body fading away."

Elgin saw its 5-game winning streak snapped because the Maroons couldn't sink key shots in the game's final two minutes when trailing 62-61. Elgin missed its final 4 shots in addition to 3 free throw attempts that could have knotted the game at 62 or put Elgin ahead.

"It's kind of frustrating because we wanted to play with the lead down the stretch," Granger said. "But they didn't drop for us and we got called for charges. It just didn't happen for us tonight."

Said Elgin coach Mike Sitter: "It was like a prizefight and we traded them punch for punch. Unfortunately, they got the last punch in. We had four chances there in the end in the last few minutes to take the lead and we didn't get it done. That's something we have to improve on between now and March."

The win emboldened the Saxons (8-2), who won in Elgin a night after winning a physical contest in Palatine.

"It gives us a little bit of confidence that we can play with different types of teams," Schaumburg coach Bob Williams said. "We played a Palatine team last night that was extremely physical and methodical. Then we come here tonight and play an Elgin team that is so explosive.

"To be able to compete in both of those games says a lot about our kids, so it's a confidence booster for us."

Schaumburg trailed 34-24 in the second quarter before erupting for a 16-2 run that bridged halftime.

After five more lead changes the Saxons grabbed a 62-57 lead with 2:12 to play when Mueller followed his three-point play with an easy inside bucket assisted by Bell.

Brandon Bolger led the Saxons with 17 points while Payne added 15 (13 in the second half) and Mueller 12.