Hot start fuels Schaumburg

The Schaumburg Saxons had just too much Saturday night in a 74-56 Mid-Suburban League boys basketball crossover win at Hersey.

The Saxons' showed a great perimeter shot, shooting 57 percent from the field, while sinking 8 from behind the 3-point arc.

This would hinder the Huskies' approach, requiring them to play catch up for most of the game. In the second quarter, the Saxons' ran an unyielding full-court pressure defense, forcing turnovers and loose balls to push a 7-0 run. The Saxons' defense was led by Declan Geraghty, who totaled 6 steals for the night.

"[Schaumburg head coach Bob] Williams has run a solid and sturdy defense for the last 12 years," said Huskies' head coach Steve Messer, "We need execution for four quarters. Right now, we are playing two to three quarter basketball.

"In the second half, we stayed in front of the ball and tested their shots, but we didn't execute in rebounding the whole game. I have found out my guys are battlers and warriors, even if they're down they strive to make things right."

The Saxons' (6-0) had three players in double figures: Alabama-bound senior guard Cully Payne (14 points on 4-for-14 shooting), senior guard Justin Swiercz (12 points on 4-of-9) and senior Perrish Bell (11 points).

"We got off to a great start," said Swiercz, "We just kind of came out flat in the second half."

The Huskies (2-4) mounted a comeback to take a big chunk out of the deficit to start the second half. The Huskies, led by Connor (10 points) and Kyle (19 points) Miklasz, would register an 11-1 run in the third, holding the Saxons to a five-minute scoring drought.

However, the Huskies were hurt on the boards, eliminating any chance of a comeback on the undefeated Saxons.

"We got a good run off in the firstt [half]," Williams said."The second half, it felt like it was pulling teeth to make a play.

"Our timing and aggressiveness was off and it made everything more difficult. We didn't lose, but I'd much rather have my guys learn a lesson by winning."

- Jonathan Jones

Conant 64, Elk Grove 36: A momentum-shifting third quarter gave the Conant boys basketball team the dominant upper hand in a 64-36 win against Mid-Suburban League crossover rival Elk Grove on Saturday night.

Conant junior guard Garrett Gatz hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to take an 8-point lead at halftime that set the stage for a 12-0 run to open the third quarter. The host Grenadiers (1-5) turned the ball over 4 times within the first four minutes of play to help open the floodgates.

"I wish I knew what happened there," Conant coach Tom McCormack said with a smile. "We didn't make any adjustments and we just tried to play hard and smart. We got some stops and some inside scores and we got a stranglehold on the possession time."

Senior guard Tony Rizzo (10 points) got things going for Conant (4-1) in the second half with a three-point play, and senior Tim Gilhooly (16 points) buried a 3-pointer at the 3:46 mark to cap the run.

"They were playing really physical inside in the first half, and we had a little trouble handling that," Gilhooly said. "We just wanted to come out with a lot of intensity and get them down on defense. We know all those guys on the other team, so that encourages us to do a little better."

The Grenadiers were outscored 20-3 in the pivotal third quarter, washing away a hard-fought first half.

Junior forward Donny Duschinsky scored 15 points and grabbed 7 rebounds to lead the Grens in both categories.

"We felt with the exception of that last 3 that they hit before half that we put ourselves in a good position," Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman said. "We knew at half that a poor start could explode into something big, and we did not respond to it with any type of possession offensively or defensively to defuse it."

- David Just

Hoffman 65, Wheeling 52: Luke Mead scored a game-high 16 points to lead a balanced Hoffman Estates (5-0) attack in the MSL crossover road victory.

Chris Hall and Kevin Tiongson scored 14 and 11 points respectively and Kemill Long and Tom Dombrowski added 7 points apiece for the Hawks. They were 19-for-25 on free throws to 6-for-14 for Wheeling (1-4).

Michael Barton (13 points), James Kurtz (12 points) and Robert Carter (10 points) led the Wildcats.

Moline 59, Barrington 54: Barrington dropped to 0-6 overall with the nonconference home loss.