Kelly helps Schaumburg take charge

Taking charges is one of the ways Chris Kelly puts a charge into his Schaumburg boys basketball teammates.

Moments after the senior guard drew a charging foul early in the fourth quarter, Declan Geraghty and Perrish Bell were diving on the floor for a loose ball with the Saxons up 18 points on visiting Glenbrook South.

So even though Kelly scored only 2 points Saturday night, he did a lot of the things that score points with Schaumburg (19-5) coaches and players in a 54-40 nonconference victory.

"My job is to come off the bench and play 'D,'" said Kelly, who scored 17 points in Friday's 78-69 win over Fremd, "and get the guys going and bring energy to the game."

Kelly has returned to his sixth-man sparkplug role with 6-foot-5 senior Blake Mueller (6 points, 9 rebounds) back in the starting lineup after missing the first 21 games with a torn ACL in his right knee.

Kelly was part of an intense defensive effort with Geraghty and Bell on the perimeter that harrassed Glenbrook South (12-10) into 24 turnovers. Seven came as Schaumburg raced to a 20-4 lead in the first 7:17 and led by double digits the rest of the way.

"He's a John Havlicek type," Schaumburg coach Bob Williams smiled about Kelly in reference to the energetic Celtics' star of the 1960s and '70s. "He does the things we need done."

And Schaumburg got the job done on a night where the stars were out with Cully Payne waiting word on a return from his injured but improving back and 6-9 Notre Dame signee Jack Cooley of the Titans sidelined for a seventh straight game after thumb surgery.

Justin Swiercz scored a game-high 19 points on 8-for-15 shooting and Josh Spandiary with 10 points and 8 rebounds for the Saxons.

But what mattered most to them was allowing a season-low for points heading into Friday's showdown with Hoffman Estates to determine the West Division representative in the Mid-Suburban League title game.

"Coach told us to focus on defense and our offense comes off our defense," Kelly said after the Saxons scored 25 points off Titans' turnovers.

"I thought we came with a great focus and I was concerned about that," Williams said after the Saxons allowed just 30 points the first 30:49. "It shows the maturity of our kids. They came out with a great effort tonight."

Hersey 54, Notre Dame 52: It took a tough drive by Demitriy Velikov (6 points) with four seconds to play to give Hersey (10-13) the nonconference victory in a tough place to play in Niles.

Hersey got the ball off a Notre Dame (16-8) turnover in the final minute.

"At 15 seconds we ran one of our sets and it got a little muddled up, which is common," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "He got the ball at the wing, we spread the court and he drove hard. They didn't help (defensively) and he was contested right at the block but he hit a little dink shot and it was a good strong take."

Notre Dame called timeout with four seconds left. Hersey pressured the inbound pass and senior Ryan Fox (9 points) tipped it and Connor Miklasz (game-high 16 points, three 3s) grabbed it and ran out the clock.

Hersey, which has won five of its last seven games, rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit to send Notre Dame to its third straight loss.

"They were beating us on the boards and they play how we've been trying to play," Messer said. "The big key was our rebounding got better. They're physical to the glass and I thought the physical presence Demitriy had was key."

Messer also said senior Kyle Mengarelli provided some valuable leadership in the second half after getting into early foul trouble.

Hersey is at Loyola in a nonconference game Tuesday.

St. Joseph 71, Conant 63: St. Joseph (21-3, 11-0), which has clinched at least a tie for the East Suburban Catholic Conference title, won its 11th consecutive game in nonconference meeting played Saturday afternoon at Conant (16-7).

Stevenson 48, Palatine 32: Nat Pearson and Matt Rossi had 8 points apiece for Palatine (3-20) in the nonconference loss in Lincolnshire.