Elgin Holiday Tournament

David Bryant iced down a sore back after Batavia's 51-49 win over Elgin Thursday at the Elgin Holiday Tournament, just a few minutes after he showed he has ice water in his veins.

Bryant rebounded a missed 1-and-1 free throw by the Maroons with 13 seconds left, calmly dribbled the ball up court, then pulled up and swished a 3-pointer from a couple feet behind the top of the key with 1.5 seconds left to give Batavia a thrilling victory.

The Batavia faithful were on the edge of their seats with the top-seeded Bulldogs down by a point. They appeared quite nervous -- understandably -- but it turned out a good thing for them Bryant had the ball in his hands.

"I was kind of struggling during the game," said Bryant, who was just 3 of 17 from the field before his game-winner. "All my 3s were right there, they were just in and out, so I knew if I got a good look I could hit it. I thought it may have been short but I got my legs under it and hit it."

Elgin's desperation full-court pass was intercepted by Jordan Smith, sending the Bulldogs (10-2) into the Elgin semifinals for the fourth consecutive year, while denying Elgin (6-5) its first semifinal berth since it won the title in 1999.

"It was a tough shot and there was a hand in his face and our best defender was on him, so he earned it," Elgin coach Mike Sitter said.

Batavia, the 2005 tournament champion, will play Buffalo Grove at 8:15 p.m. today in the second semifinal.

"The kids didn't panic, and that's a credit to them," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. "We fought through some tough stretches of the game when not much was going right.

"They (Elgin) are a very well coached team, play extremely hard, so this is a great win for our kids. It was a tough win. The kids hung in there."

Playing its fifth game without Nick Fruendt -- a three-year member of the all-tournament team at Elgin -- Batavia found itself in a struggle all night.

Bryant's 3-pointer marked the 23rd and final lead change. Fourteen came in the first half, when neither team leading by more than 5 points. Jordan Smith's putback basket tied the game at 27 at halftime.

Smith again scored the final basket of the third quarter to tie game at 39 heading to the fourth quarter. Elgin opened up the biggest lead either team had at 47-41 on baskets by Kenny Williams and Jeremy Granger, and Armani Williams' fifth 3-pointer.

Batavia rallied with 7 straight points to retake the lead 48-47 on Bryant's drive with 1:36 remaining. Granger quickly answered with a runner putting Elgin ahead 49-48.

The Maroons twice prevented Batavia from taking the lead, including a charge drawn by Kenny Williams, only to turn the ball over themselves and miss a free throw, setting the stage for Bryant's last-second dagger.

"We just didn't finish," Sitter said. "The opportunity was there, we had the lead most of the fourth quarter, but we chose not to finish which is disappointing considering we are mostly a senior team. We should know how to do these things by now."

Armani Williams scored 20 points in Elgin's opening round win Wednesday, and led the Maroons again with 18 points Thursday.

"We worked too hard to let it come down to what happened," Williams said. "I felt like everybody was in there ready to play, wanted to play. It was what we were looking for. We just didn't get the win."

Bryant hit the shot over Granger, who was second to Williams for Elgin with 11 points.

"I felt like we played hard tonight, I felt like we deserved to win, but they played better down the stretch," Granger said. "I basically let him (Bryant) do what he wanted to do and he made the shot."

"Coach kept telling us all week, don't let it come down to one shot, don't let it come down to one call. We let it come down to one shot."

Phil Albrecht led Batavia with 16 points followed by Smith with 14 points and 9 rebounds, and Bryant's 10 points.

Albrecht said the team is learning to play without Fruendt, who was in street clothes on Batavia's bench cheering on his teammates.

"As the games go on we're getting more comfortable offensively and defensively," Albrecht said. "We're just getting used to picking up the pace. We're getting better game by game.

"Personally I've been trying to be a little more aggressive whether it's shooting or creating off the dribble. I think it's going well the past couple games."

Bryant said he's going to see a chiropractor Friday about his back.

"I think I did something to it and landed on it and tried to play through it," Bryant said. "It was really hard to play defense and bend over and it wasn't working out."

After winning the tournament in 2005, it was the semifinal round that tripped up Batavia last year when the Bulldogs lost to Highland Park and eventually finished third.

The Bulldogs will try to avoid a semifinal round loss tonight against a Buffalo Grove team that is 11-1 and has won eight straight games.

"It feels good (reaching the semifinals), a good win, but we definitely feel like anything less than the tournament victory would not be too fulfilling," Albrecht said. "We want to come out and keep it rolling."

Hoffman Estates 59, Bronzeville 23: Hoffman Estates defeated Chicago Military Academy with the help of Ben Collins, who scored 21 points in the victory. Kemil Long added 10 points.

Bronzeville was led by Marvin Jordan, scoring 8 points in the game.

Waukegan 61, DGN 49: Rashaan Melvin's 15 points boosted Waukegan to victory, along with the help of Jereme Richmond's 12 points. Downers Grove North's highest scorer was Eric Jagielo with 9 points.

Fremd 65, Glenbrook South 52: Christopher Klimek scored a game-high 19 points for Fremd, while Jim Mundt contributed 14 points. Dan Itami finished 7-for-8 from the free throw line.

Jack Cooley finished with 17 points for Glenbrook South, while Anthony Brown added 16 points.

D-C 50, Larkin 35:

With winless Larkin suffering through a season-long scoring drought, Dundee-Crown's defense offered no oasis Thursday afternoon. The Chargers held Larkin to 13 field goals on 31-percent shooting (13-of-42), and six players scored at least 6 points to lead Dundee-Crown to a 50-35 victory at the 33rd Annual Pepsi/Daily Herald Elgin Holiday Boys Basketball Tournament.

"The guys executed," D-C coach Lance Huber said.

"The boys today did a great job. They're the ones who deserve all the credit. We told them what (Larkin) was going to do, and they took care of it and took it into their own hands." Dundee-Crown (5-4) finished the first quarter with an 11-2 surge that staked it to a 15-7 lead after one period.

The run was fueled by 2 strips from Jeff Beck and 4 straight empty trips by Larkin (0-12). The Royals stayed within arm's reach of the lead when seniors Nick Bee and Cam Kinley connected on consecutive second-quarter possessions to trim their deficit to 22-15.

However, Larkin could not score another field goal until late in the third quarter.

"We're just trying to stay positive," Larkin coach Larry Hight said. "There's not much different I can say. You know, we're trying. We're just waiting for that first one. It's out there and we're going to get it in this tournament. We don't know when, where and how, but we'll get it."

During the Larkin field-goal drought, which lasted 7:29, Dundee-Crown reeled off 17 unanswered points.

Juniors Greg McNally and Justin Strzelczyk and senior David Bernard each sank 3-pointers during the decisive stretch. "It was a really good team effort," said McNally, who posted 9 points and 4 assists. "We all passed the ball well and shot the ball well as a team. Since the Prairie Ridge game (a 56-37 win on Dec. 14) this was the first game we really came together as a team. It was our best team effort by far."

Beck paced Dundee-Crown with 10 points, 3 steals and a blocked shot. Kinley led the Royals with 11 points while Bee contributed 7. Dundee-Crown will play Fremd today at 1:30 p.m. Larkin will take on Glenbrook South at 8:45 a.m.

Highland Park 65, Neuqua Valley 55:

A real good stretch in the second quarter left Neuqua Valley sitting pretty at the half against a real good Highland Park team Thursday afternoon.

But unfortunately for the Wildcats (9-3), their solid second quarter did not carry over into the second half, and the Giants turned things around and won 65-55 in quarterfinal play of the Elgin Holiday boys basketball tournament.

Neuqua Valley made 9 of 11 shots in the second quarter while turning an 18-12 deficit into a 35-31 lead at the break over unbeaten Highland Park, which lost to the Wildcats in the title game at Elgin last year. Neuqua, however, struggled on offense in the second half, scoring just 5 points in the third quarter and finishing with just 7 field goals after the intermission.

"We had 5 points in the first nine minutes of the second half, and that's really poor," Wildcats coach Todd Sutton said. "We've been poor on offense in stretches, and that's hurt us all year. We were ineffective on offense and we just couldn't score."

The first half was another story. Giants guard Chris Wroblewski hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Highland Park (11-0) led 18-12 after the first quarter and 20-12 following a Brad Deutsch bucket to open the second quarter.

Neuqua, however, went on a 19-4 run before Giants sharpshooter Josh Bartelstein hit a pair of 3s to make the game tight at the break. Highland Park wound up making 9 of 18 shots from beyond the arc, with six of the 3-pointers coming in the first half.

"We have good shooters and I thought we did a good job of making the extra pass today to get ourselves some real good looks," Giants coach Paul Harris said. "But (the Wildcats) were on fire. Luckily halftime came because that was the only thing that was going to cool them off."

With 6-foot-8 Dan Pawelski and 6-5 Regi Miskel inside, Neuqua looked to have an edge in the paint, but Pawelski had just one field goal through three quarters and Miskel had 4 of his 6 points in the big second quarter.

"In the second quarter everything went well, and when we went into halftime we had momentum and everyone was excited," Miskel said. "But after that it just didn't go our way."

It didn't help matters any that Neuqua picked up plenty of quick fouls and put the Giants in the bonus before the third quarter came to a close. For the game Highland Park made 20 of 25 foul shots, while the Wildcats went 8 of 13. Bartelstein finished with a game-high 19 points and five 3s, while Wroblewski went 8 of 8 from the line in the fourth quarter to finish with 17 points.

For Neuqua, Pawelski had 12 points and Derek Raridon and Brad Keeler each added 8.

Wheaton North hit Rolling Meadows with a 9-count just two minutes into their quarterfinal at the 33rd annual Elgin Holiday Boys Basketball Tournament.

And the early flurry gave Wheaton North the edge it needed to eventually pound Meadows into submission 59-42 on Thursday evening at Chesbrough Fieldhouse.

"Our goal is to make a team have to take a two-minute timeout," said Falcons senior Tom Fitzpatrick of forcing Meadows into an early break. "A 9-0 run sets the tone for the rest of the game. We really emphasize knocking them out right away."

Wheaton North (10-1) didn't do that until a 14-point run that started late in the third quarter and lasted 7½ minutes.

That put the Falcons, who finished fourth last year, into today's 6:30 p.m. semifinal against Highland Park (11-0), a 65-55 winner over defending champ Neuqua Valley.

Wheaton North had answers inside with the 6-foot-8 Fitzpatrick and 6-7 John Bagge and outside with Dave Pilalis. Fitzpatrick had 19 points and 7 rebounds, Bagge countered with 16 points and 14 rebounds, and Pilalis hit four 3-pointers to tally 14 points.

"We have six guys who can go off at any different time," Fitzpatrick said after he combined with Bagge to shoot 16 of 23 from the field. "That makes us real dangerous."

Other than a 17-point outburst the first 5:38 of the third quarter, Meadows (6-5) was mostly off the mark offensively and will face Neuqua at 3:15 p.m. today.

"It didn't help because we wanted to play a little more of Elmo's (former Prospect coach Glen Elms) matchup zone," said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich. "Down 9-0 at the start it's tough to do that.

"But I'm proud of the fact the kids kept fighting and battling."

Ty Kirk and Kevin Serna combined to hit 6 of 8 shots from the field and 4 of 6 on 3s to get the Mustangs within 41-35.

They missed their next 11 shots and eight 3s to finish 17 of 49 from the field and 5 of 23 beyond the arc.

"We all had good opportunities early, but we just weren't hitting open shots and that probably cost us early," Serna said after scoring all 9 of his points in a span of 1:18 in the third. "They came out with the first punch and that kind of hurt us, but we were able to come back and play with them."

But Bagge and Fitzpatrick scored the first 11 points of the run that put Wheaton North up 55-35 with 3:10 left.

The Falcons' Steve Pierotti, Kristian Rosenberger and Tim Bryant combined to help limit Meadows' scoring leader Kyle Gaedele to 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting.

"I don't know how many times you see a 6-foot-3, 220-pound point guard who is an athlete like Gaedele," Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos said of the Valparaiso baseball signee. "He's a great player.

"He wears down anybody you put on him. It was a good team effort on him."

Buffalo Grove doesn't have a glossy unbeaten record, any gaudy Division I signees or gargantuan players patrolling the paint.

But none of that keeps the Bison from believing they can win the 33rd annual Elgin Holiday Boys Basketball Tournament.

They took their latest step in that direction as they methodically pulled away to a 55-42 quarterfinal victory over Rockford Auburn at Chesbrough Fieldhouse on Thursday night.

"We've got to keep playing the way we're playing," said BG senior guard Brian DeSimone after scoring 10 of his game-high 19 points in the opening 6:40.

"For the most part we may not match up physically to other guys," BG senior guard Paul Timko said after hitting four more 3-pointers and scoring 15 points. "We're a pretty smart basketball team.

"As long as everyone keeps things going and stays consistent throughout the game we can compete against any team."

BG (11-1) also got 9 points and 7 rebounds from 6-foot-3 "big man" Mike Ricciardi and 7 points and 5 rebounds from sophomore Kevin Mulligan.

And the Bison held Auburn to 5-for-22 shooting in the second half to win their eighth straight game and advance to today's 8 p.m. semifinal against Batavia (10-2), a 51-49 winner over Elgin.

"They couldn't get any shots off," DeSimone said. "We tried to hold them to 1 shot down the floor and I thought we did a good job."

Timko continued to find playing at Elgin to his liking. He was 4-for-7 beyond the arc in helping BG to a 34-24 lead 1:24 before halftime.

"Maybe I should flunk out, become a fifth-year senior and transfer out here," Timko joked after hitting five 3s in Wednesday's opener.

But it was a tough right-side drive by Timko with 1:54 left in the third that started an 11-point run to put BG up 51-34 with 6:38 left.

All the damage was done in close. Ricciardi had a driving 3-point play and 2 free throws, DeSimone had a right-side drive and Federico Iudica made a perfect backdoor pass to Mulligan for a layup.

"That's a credit to those guys," BG coach Ryan O'Connor said of his team's continued unselfishness. "Paul hit some big shots in the first half and that opened up lanes in the second half.

"If we're going to be successful we've got to be well-rounded."

Which BG hopes will have it around for Saturday night's title game.

Jaci Corn contributed to this report.