Fremd 59, Schaumburg 52

Fremd was staring at a 3-point deficit with 4:43 remaining in its Mid-Suburban West boys basketball contest against Schaumburg.

The Saxons had rebounded from a 5-point halftime deficit and seemed to have control of the game.

But the Vikings had a different plan.

Fremd showed its poise down the stretch, outscoring the visitors 14-4 in the final 3:13 to pull off the upset with a 59-52 victory in Palatine.

"We did a nice job of keeping our composure and keeping our focus especially after being down," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski of his team that snapped a 3-game losing streak. "We had execution and effort tonight."

Joey DePaolis (9 points) came off the bench to nail his second 3-pointer of the night to tie the game at 48-48.

Then senior guard Dan Bruno (14 points) scored a tiebreaking drive with 2:48 left. The game was tied at 50-50 and 52-52 when Bruno scored on another drive at 1:18 to give the Vikings a lead they never lost.

Fremd (3-7, 2-2) converted 10-of-11 free throws in the final quarter, with senior guard Jim Mundt (15 points) going 6-for-6 from the line.

Senior Dan Itami went 4-for-4 from the line and directed the Viking attack which had only 2 turnovers in the final quarter.

"This is huge," Bruno said after scoring 7 fourth-quarter points. "Everyone picked up their game tonight."

Especially sophomore Chris Klimek. The 6-foot-4 sophomore scored 13 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds, including two in the final minute that helped seal the victory.

"Schaumburg is tough and strong," said Klimek, who scored 8 points to stake the Vikings to a 28-23 halftime lead. "There were no fouls in practice this week, we knew we had to rip by them and everybody was ready to go."

Schaumburg (8-3, 2-2) didn't seem ready to go until midway through the third period. Its defense ignited a 9-2 run with Sean Everitt hitting a 3-pointer for a 37-35 lead.

Junior Cully Payne (game-high 17 points) and George Kalousek helped Schaumburg take a 41-36 lead into the final quarter.

But the Saxons defense failed to finish the finish the deal, combined with Fremd converting 17-of-22 free throws in the second half.

"Right now we're a soft basketball team," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams. "Fremd played more focused than we did and tougher."

Barrington 49, Palatine 44: If there is such a thing as a big basketball game in December, it was Friday's MSL West contest between Palatine and host Barrington.

The Broncos were still seeking their first MSL win, and to top it off, go-to guy Mack Darrow was held out of the starting lineup after a teammate accidentally dropped a weight plate on his foot during a team lifting session earlier in the week.

Darrow eventually entered the game, scoring 9 first-half points and blocking 3 shots in the Broncos' 49-44 victory.

"I don't want to label a December game as a 'must game,' but this was a close as you can get," said Darrow.

"This was huge," said Barrington coach Marty Dello. "We're only 2 games back. Some people say we aren't battle-tested.

"Well, we just played Schaumburg, Hoffman, Conant and Palatine. You can't get much tougher than that."

The Broncos (5-6, 1-3) answered the call in the fourth quarter, turning a 38-36 deficit into a 49-38 lead by outscoring the Pirates (3-7, 1-3) 13-2 in a span of nearly six minutes.

Wade Lernihan scored half of his 10 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer that gave the Broncos their largest lead at 49-38 at the 1:33 mark.

"We ran our offense better and started to knock down some shots," said Lernihan. "We hit a little slide, but we came out and practiced hard all week. The first conference win is big."

In the fourth quarter, Palatine had a hard time against Barrington's matchup zone, connecting on just 3-of-11 shots, including the fifth 3-pointer by John Castellano (game-high 16 points).

"We got tentative; do we try to get it inside or settle for the outside shot," said Palatine coach Ed Molitor. "We played hard, but we got into foul trouble."

The Pirates raced to a 12-3 lead only to see Barrington cut the margin to 15-11 after the first quarter. Darrow's 9-point outburst in the second quarter helped the Broncos to a 25-24 halftime lead.

Castellano drained three 3s in the third quarter, including a pair back-to-back, and the teams started the fourth quarter tied at 36-36. A 3-point play by Bryant Sullivan gave Barrington the lead for good at 39-38.

Chris Howard led the balanced Broncos with 11 points and three 3s, and Charlie Douglas scored 10.

-- Larry Weindruch