Saxons show they're more than a two-man act
Highland Park succeeded in not getting beat by Cully Payne and Brandon Bolger.
Schaumburg's dangerous duo had a grand total of 2 points of their combined average of 32 at halftime. They ended up scoring 13 of their 18 points in the final 3:11.
But Highland Park didn't succeed where it mattered most in Wednesday night's Class 4A boys basketball sectional semifinal at Barrington.
The Giants couldn't stop the Saxons from winning 58-48 and moving on to Friday's sectional final against top-seed Zion-Benton.
"Crazy," Bolger said with a smile after hitting 4 free throws in the final 1:21 to avoid being shutout.
"We have a lot of threats," said Schaumburg junior Perrish Bell, who was a big one early with a pair of 3-pointers. "It doesn't just go to one person. We had everybody step up and we can go to anybody at crunch time."
And in a way, crunch time was right away for the Saxons when the Giants came out in a triangle-and-two with defenders dogging every move of Payne and Bolger.
The game could have gotten away. Enter Bell and classmate Blake Mueller, the most experienced returnees who wore Schaumburg uniforms a year ago.
The 6-foot-4 Mueller came in averaging 6½ points a game with a pair of 3s all season. He hit his three attempts behind the arc in the first 6:15 en route to a career-high 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting and 12 rebounds.
And Payne, who is best friends with AAU teammate and Highland Park star Chris Wroblewski, suspected something might be up to have this game come down to guys like Mueller.
"I said to him (Wroblewski), 'triangle-and-two,'" Payne said with a smile. "He was giving me a hard time but I knew it was going to happen.
"Defensively they play a lot of gimmicks and I said, 'Blake, you've got to be ready.' He played great and I'm proud of him."
And Schaumburg coach Bob Williams was liked the way Payne and Bolger handled being shackled.
Some big-time scorers would go out of their way to reach their averages. Payne and Bolger didn't.
"Everybody thinks that," Williams said of the Saxons being a two-man offense. "If people give us those two guys we're going to go with those two guys. If you take away those two other people will step up and play."
They did in a spectacular 18-6 third quarter where Mueller had half the points.
Sean Everitt came off the bench to hit a clutch 3. Bolger's rebound led to Payne finding Mueller on the run for a layup.
Mueller's steal led to Bolger's feed to Mick Trimarco for a layup and a 41-29 lead. And Bell clamped down on Wroblewski, who got 15 points but finished 5-for-20 from the field and 1-for-11 behind the 3-point arc.
"We know we always go on 'D,'" Bolger said after the Giants shot 34.6 percent from the field and 4-for-22 on 3s. "If we step up on 'D' it doesn't matter who's scoring, we always do well."
It's a formula that's difficult to stop.