Saxons not one and done

Schaumburg had to prove it was not a one-man show in Thursday night's Mid-Suburban League West Division showdown at Hoffman Estates.

The Saxons emphatically stated their case with Alabama-bound Mr. Basketball candidate Cully Payne sidelined because of back problems.

Schaumburg (15-2, 4-1) spread out Payne's missing 22-point average among eight players and locked down defensively to move into a tie for first in the West with a 61-51 victory before a full house at Hoffman (13-2, 4-1).

"We played as a team," said Schaumburg senior Justin Swiercz, who had a team-high 16 points and 7 rebounds. "It wasn't one guy taking over.

"Everyone was scoring, everyone was playing defense, everyone was rebounding and everyone did everything they can do."

Payne has been playing through back pain, but it was too great for him to play Thursday.

He is scheduled to have a bone scan today.

But Thursday afternoon's news about Payne didn't deter the Saxons.

"We all have to play defense and if we do most of the time we're going to win," said senior Josh Spandiary, who scored 9 of his 12 points in the first quarter and had 7 rebounds and 2 assists.

"Cully is a great player but if we play as a team we'll still win."

Especially on the defensive end as Hoffman shot 32.6 percent from the field (15-for-46), 4-for-21 on 3-pointers and committed 17 turnovers.

Luke Mead scored a game-high 19 points for Hoffman but shot just 4-for-21 from the field and 2-for-13 on 3s against Declan Geraghty, Chris Kelly and Perrish Bell (12 points, 3 assists).

"We worked on our defense every day this week and made sure Mead couldn't get going," Swiercz said after Hoffman's scoring leader missed his last 12 shots.

"We didn't allow them to run their plays and continue to do what they've done to be successful this season," Bell said.

"They run some great stuff," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams.

"We knew we couldn't just let them run their stuff because it's that good."

Schaumburg shot 45.5 percent (20-for-44) and overcame 7 third-quarter turnovers to extend a 30-24 lead to 43-33. Its only fourth-quarter turnover was on the game's final possession.

"What impressed me was on all their possessions every guy touched the ball," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro, "and all we were doing was shooting 3-point shots."

Schaumburg started taking control late in the first quarter.Junior reserve Joe Infusio hit a 3 and Richard Barnes got a third-effort rebound basket to start a 17-6 burst for a 28-19 lead.

Hoffman got within 49-44 on a 3 by Kemill Long (10 points) with 4:06 left. But Infusino got free for a breakout and 3-point play and Schaumburg's deficit was never less than 6 points the final 2:45.

"We wanted to prove everyone wrong that Fremd (62-52 loss last Friday) was a fluke," Spandiary said.

The Saxons proved a lot of things Thursday night.