Schaumburg 64, Conant 54

A standing-room only crowd watched Conant and Schaumburg take each other's best shots to start the second half of their Class 4A boys basketball regional championship game Friday night.

Then the Saxons delivered a series of powerful blows that knocked out their Mid-Suburban West rivals and led to another celebration in Conant's Perry Gymnasium.

And the 1-2 punch of Cully Payne and Brandon Bolger combined for 41 points as the seventh-seeded Saxons won 64-54 for their 12th regional title and sixth since 1999.

"It feels good to get past the regional championship," Payne said of not getting to a sectional his first two years at Burlington Central.

"It's a great rivalry and a great game, too," Bolger said after the Saxons' fourth straight win at Conant. "We played great and we stepped up defensively. It feels great."

Bolger scored 14 of his 19 points in the first half and Payne rebounded for 19 of his 22 points after intermission.

And Schaumburg (18-9) won its fifth straight game to advance to Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. sectional semifinal at Barrington against No. 3 Highland Park (22-5), which won its regional by edging Waukegan 51-50.

"Cully and Brandon, they both stepped up big this game," said Conant senior Tommy Sotos, who had 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting with three 3-pointers.

Sotos' 3 off 1 of 5 assists by Tim Gilhooly gave Conant (20-7) a 37-36 lead with 3:11 left in the third. It finished a sequence where the two teams combined to hit 9 straight shots from the field.

But the next big shot for the Saxons was off another key rebound by 5-foot-9 Perrish Bell. His off-balance jumper put them up for good.

Bolger banked in a tough right-side runner. Then Payne, who missed 7 of his first 8 shots, beat the third-quarter buzzer with a 3 near the volleyball line out top.

"We went into a little 3-2 matchup (zone) and were playing the way we wanted," Sotos said. "Cully can drain shots from anywhere on the floor. That gave them a big momentum swing there."

Payne found Blake Mueller over the top for a layup before Conant's Tony Rizzo briefly stopped the run with a free throw.

But Bolger answered with a free throw. Payne fired a beautiful no-look pass to junior Josh Spandiary, who had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks in big minutes off the bench, for a layup and 48-38 lead with 4½ minutes left.

"In the second half I was able to get going a little bit and I knew had to step up," Payne said. "Whether it was getting points or getting assists, I was going to help us out."

Jeff Keegan scored 13 points for Conant, which got no closer than 7 points with 3:23 and a minute to play.

"Getting down in the fourth quarter to a team of that caliber, it will be tough to come back," Sotos said.

"Payne is so good if you're chasing them it's really tough to get the ball out of his hands," Conant coach Tom McCormack said after he scored 10 points the last 3:49.

McCormack felt the Cougars eventually paid a big price with their inability to deliver first-half shots inside (9-for-26 from the field) and on free throws (6-for-12).

And Bolger's ability to hit all 5 of his first-half shots with four behind the 3-point arc kept the Saxons in the fight with a 26-25 lead.

"Brandon really carried us in the first half offensively when we really didn't have anything going," said Saxons coach Bob Williams.

Not bad considering Bolger spent most of the fourth quarter of Wednesday's win with Williams on the sideline.

"It feels pretty good to be out of the doghouse," Bolger said with a smile.

And on to the sectional penthouse in Barrington.