Barrington 49, Palatine 44

If there is such a thing as a big basketball game in December, it was Friday's Mid-Suburban West boys 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 Darrow's 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 of the game, 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 out to a 12-3 lead in the first quarter, only to see Barrington cut the margin to 15-11 at the horn. Darrow's 9-point outburst in the second quarter helped the Broncos to a 25-24 halftime lead.

Castellano drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter, including a pair back to back, and the teams started the fourth quarter tied at 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, including three 3-pointers, while Charlie Douglas scored 10.

Girls

Palatine 44, Barrington 35: Sometimes a team just needs that little spark.

In the fourth quarter of Friday's game against Barrington, host Palatine got one spark from Lauren Orris.

The junior scored 8 in the fourth quarter on her way to a 10-point game.

That big finish helped the Pirates put some distance on the Fillies as the hosts took their first Mid-Suburban West girls basketball win 44-35.

"It felt good -- I haven't done that in a while," Orris said of her late-game burst. "This whole season, it has taken me forever (to have a game like this). I needed this."

For Palatine (3-11, 1-3), it had been a winless December. But coach Ron Theberge is hoping this might help turn things around.

"Orris obviously stepped up," he said. "She was huge. She had some nice steals, she was in the passing lane and did a lot of nice things in the offensive end.

"Hopefully for all the girls this is a little pick-me-up and we'll start playing better."

Most of Orris' impact came in the second half, and she's the first to share the credit for her scoring.

"The girls helped a lot," Orris said. "Our defense was awesome so that helped a lot. We played so hard. We've been working hard in practice and finally it's paid off."

The Pirates came out a little slow and managed just 1 field goal in the first quarter.

But Palatine had a 9-0 run in the second quarter and as its confidence rose, its shooting began to heat up.

After halftime, the Pirates went on another big run to go ahead for good. That effort included baskets by Katie MacFabe (8 points), Nikki Linares (9), Orris and Megan Boecher (10). In the process, they held the Fillies scoreless for six and a half minutes.

The Pirates also got a boost from 11-of-12 free throw shooting in the second half.

"It felt good to get that win," Theberge said. "That's a huge win for us from a mental standpoint.

"In the third quarter we came out and outscored them 11-5. When we play to our level, we can be OK."

Barrington (3-12, 0-5) put together a couple of 8-0 runs in the first half and held leads of 10-4 and 20-16 at the break. But every time the Fillies got back in the game, the Pirates were there to take back momentum.

"It was really a sloppy game, I thought," said Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro. "I'm disappointed. We don't play four complete quarters. Until we do that, we're going to struggle to win games.

"I thought Emily Harris had some bright spots. She rebounded very well in the first half. I thought MJ Maropis (4) played her heart out."

Lianne Davis came off the bench to sink a pair of 3-pointers for Barrington.

-- Bill Swick