Adversity can't stop Schaumburg from posting win
Responding to adversity has been a season-long theme for Schaumburg.
On Friday morning, the Saxons were hit with the bad news that star guard Cully Payne's stress fractures in his L3 vertebrae in his lower back, which had sidelined him for eight games, had not healed sufficiently enough and ended his season and high school career.
But the Saxons had no time to worry about that loss as they faced a must-win Mid-Suburban West boys basketball showdown with visiting Hoffman Estates on Friday night.
And the Saxons persevered to pull out a 50-46 victory, end up in a three-way tie for the division title and get the tiebreaker with its season sweep of Hoffman to reach Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. MSL title game at Prospect.
"The first thing through our minds is we don't have Cully, but we still have to do what we do," said Schaumburg senior guard Perrish Bell, who had a team-high 15 points. "We stepped up and played defense at critical points of the game and that's what got us the win."
The most crucial before 3,000 came after a Schaumburg (20-5, 7-3) turnover at midcourt with 11.5 seconds left and a 48-46 lead gave Hoffman (18-7, 7-3) a chance to force overtime or win the West title outright.
Schaumburg's Chris Kelly (9 points, 3 assists) had to stop Hoffman's Luke Mead (22 points). The Saxons' Blake Mueller (10 points, 10 rebounds), in just his fourth game back from ACL surgery, hedged to slow Mead as he dribbled into the frontcourt.
Chris Hall, who was guarded by Mueller, cut into the lane and Mead sent a pass for a potential tying basket. Kelly deflected it and it was corralled by Declan Geraghty, who hit 2 free throws with three seconds left to seal the Saxons' seventh West title and ninth MSL division crown.
"Coach (Bob Williams) told me to stay in front of him and keep my hand up," said Kelly, who had a little shiner under his left eye from a typically physical battle. "I didn't expect him to pass it and got lucky I deflected it."
Schaumburg parlayed 6 of Hoffman's 10 first-half turnovers into an 11-point first-quarter run and a lead it never lost.
"Give Schaumburg credit because they forced a number of them, but several of them were unforced errors," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro, whose team shot 30 percent (12-for-40) and was 2-for-13 on 3s. "It was like it almost took us three quarters of the game to realize what we needed to be successful and compete in the game."
Mueller's 3-point play put Schaumburg up 43-35 at 1:49. Two free throws in an 8-point fourth quarter by Tom Dombrowski got Hoffman within 48-46 with 18.6 seconds left.
"I thought both teams played with great character," Williams said. "We're 20-5 and MSL West champs and I'm very proud of that, but I'm more proud of the way our kids competed."