Payne, Saxons off to good start

A game-high 23 points from Alabama-bound senior Cully Payne was no surprise for Schaumburg.

A combined 24 points from seniors Josh Spandiary and Grant Grossman was a nice surprise for the Saxons as they opened their boys basketball season by beating Rockford East 66-43 at the Rockford Boylan tournament.

Spandiary scored 14 points a little more than a week after the Saxons' football season ended in the Class 8A quarterfinals. Grossman added 10 points after scoring just 2 points all of last season.

"Grossman really played well and stepped in to do what we do in our program," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams. "We always have seniors step up and do some things necessary for success.

"He got a chance and if you do the things you need to do for us to be successful you're going to play."

Payne hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 8 fourth-quarter points as the Saxons pulled away from a 44-36 lead after three.

Seniors Anthony Iannotti and Perrish Bell, who are also returning from football, added 4 points apiece.

"Iannotti got some good time and he's going to get nothing but better," Williams said of the 6-foot-5 forward who was hampered by knee trouble last year. "Defensively (Bell) played really hard."

Williams also liked how junior Declan Geraghty played in his first varsity start.

"I thought we played hard for the first time out," Williams said. "I was very pleased with the effort."

Unfortunately for Barrington, it's opening game in the tournament was put on hold because Orr pulled out since it was playing in another tournament.

As a result, Barrington will play twice Friday (Rochelle at 2 p.m. and Boylan at 7:15 p.m.) and twice Saturday (Rockford Auburn at 10:30 a.m. and Crystal Lake South at 5 p.m.).

Schaumburg will play Auburn at 3:45 p.m. Friday and Boylan at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Saxons don't know yet if they'll receive a forfeit win since they can't play their scheduled game with Orr on Saturday.

Carmel 56, Maine West 53: Almost nothing went right for Carmel in the first quarter of Tuesday's game against Maine West in the Mundelein Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Corsairs missed their first 10 shots and gave Maine West too many good looks. After eight minutes, Carmel trailed 17-6.

Fortunately for the Corsairs, they looked like a different team the rest of the way. Carmel used a huge advantage at the free-throw line to rally for a 56-53 victory.

"We came out on our heels," coach John Ryan said. "We went to a full-court (press) and that got us going. Our defense energized us."

This was the first victory of the season for Carmel (1-1). Maine West dropped to 0-2.

Carmel caught a break at the very end of the first quarter when junior Jonathan Huisel was fouled while attempting a tough 3-pointer at the buzzer. He made 2 of 3 free throws, and Carmel went on to make a living at the line.

Maine West committed 15 fouls in the first half, and for the game Carmel made 16 of its 23 free throws. Maine West was 8 of 16 from the line.

Carmel took the lead for good at 45-42 on a 3-pointer by senior Ryan Kloss, who finished with a game-high 21 points and 9 rebounds. Kloss hit another 3-poiner to make it 48-44 and his 3-point play increased the margin to 51-44 with 1:16 left.

Consecutive turnovers by Carmel and quick Maine West baskets tied the score at 51-51. From there, junior Connor Garvey (10 points) scored Carmel's final 5 points to secure the victory.

Garvey's first basket, a layup, came off an alert entry feed from senior guard Jacob Mathis.

The next one came after Kloss rebounded a missed free throw with Carmel leading 53-52. He quickly advanced the ball down the floor and found Garvey for a layup.

After Maine West cut its deficit to two points, Garvey was fouled. He made the first free-throw and missed the second to give Carmel a 56-53 lead. Maine West got the rebound but missed a shot at the buzzer.

- Bob Gosman

Neuqua 81, Hersey 60: Neuqua Valley lost a lot of firepower from last year's Elite Eight squad, but the Wildcats showed for the second consecutive night they have plenty of bang left.

Neuqua Valley defeated Clark by 47 points Monday and the Wildcats kept it up on Tuesday night at the 36th annual York Thanksgiving tournament by defeating Hersey 81-60 in Elmhurst.

Senior forward Derek Raridon led the attack by scoring 17 of his game-high 19 points in the first half for the Wildcats. Rahjan Muhammad came off the bench to contribute 17 points and Dwayne Evans added 14 points.

"Everybody out there can score," said Raridon of the Wildcats' attack. "We can go down low and keep them honest and at the same time we can hit them from the outside."

Neuqua Valley (2-0) used a 13-0 run in taking a 14-2 advantage with 3:00 remaining in the opening quarter with Raridon scoring 5 points.

Evans kept the pressure on for the Wildcats by scoring 6 points in the opening quarter, all from underneath the basket. Christian Shonkwiler added 6 points in the opening quarter as Neuqua Valley jumped out to a 27-12 advantage.

"We had a nice start," said Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton. "We're a little young and raw, but they are working hard."

Hersey (1-1) kept the pressure on Neuqua Valley in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to single digits on three separate occasions.

Kyle Mengarelli (12 points) and Kyle Miklasz (18 points) scored consecutive baskets off back-to-back steals to narrow the Huskies' deficit to 41-32 with 1:28 left in the half.

"It's real good experience to play a team that plays like this," said Hersey coach Steve Messer of the up-tempo Wildcats' attack. "They play very fast and very strong, if we don't decide to quit we're going to get a lot better."

Neuqua Valley answered each time Hersey narrowed the deficit and the Wildcats used a 6-0 run in taking a 47-33 halftime advantage.

Hersey opened the second half with two quick baskets to narrow the deficit to 10 points, but Neuqua answered with a 9-0 run to increase its lead to 19 points with 5:32 remaining in the third and never looked back.

- Michael Eaken

Libertyville 67, Elk Grove 47: Libertyville's Julian Hill came off the bench to score 16 points, pull down 5 rebounds and block 2 shots in a 67-47 win over Elk Grove the the Chuck Mitchell Tournament at Fenton on Tuesday night.

"Last night Julian had some jitters," said Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil. "Tonight he played with a sense of purpose. He's a nice weapon to come off the bench."

The Wildcats (1-1) led 23-20 over the Grenadiers (0-2) with 4:07 left in the second quarter but went on a 10-2 run to finish the half leading 33-22. Hill scored 5 points during the run, including a put back with 50 seconds left.

Elk Grove's Matt Martinski scored 15 of his team-high 22 points in the third quarter as the Grenadiers pulled to within 46-40.

Two free throws by Jeremy Letchford (16 points, 8 rebounds) and a 3-point play by Hill found Elk Grove trailing 51-43 as the quarter ended.

Libertyville pulled away in the fourth quarter outscoring Elk Grove 16-4.

"It takes a complete game to win," said Grenadier coach Anthony Furman. "We just had too many defensive breakdowns. Libertyville played consistent for four quarters and we didn't."

- Greg Swiderski

Naperville C. 67, Meadows 45: Richie Kemph scored 15 points and Dan Wenzel added 9 points for Rolling Meadows (1-1) in the 67-45 loss at the Fenton tournament.

Wheaton Academy 59, Leyden 48: Alex Regalado (18 points), Anthony Cushion (16 points, four 3s) and Mike Woolf (11 points) combined for all but 3 of Leyden's points as it fell 59-48 in its season opener at the Wheaton Academy tourney.