Mooney, Lake Zurich sink Schaumburg

When it's the end of a tight game, Lake Zurich coach John Zarr knows just where to turn - to senior Connor Mooney.

In the four years Mooney has been on the Bears' varsity roster, Zarr has called on Mooney to handle the ball in key situations to secure a win. Wednesday night at the Class 4A Lake Zurich regional, Zarr called on Mooney one more time.

"(Coach) told me that he wanted the ball in my hands to take control of the game at the end," Mooney said. "It's my job to take control of the game."

Mooney did just that in the regional semifinal game against fifth-seeded Schaumburg by scoring 28 points, including 10 of the last 13 points of the game for the Bears as the hosts upset the Saxons 62-55 to move into Friday night's regional final against fourth-seeded Warren, a 70-47 victor over Rolling Meadows.

"Connor is a scorer and he has so many different ways of taking and putting the ball in the net," Zarr said. "The plan is always to get the ball in his hands at the end of games."

Mooney's best came late in the game when Lake Zurich (16-12) needed him most. After the Bears cruised to a 47-34 lead midway through the fourth quarter, Schaumburg began to regain its touch from behind the 3-point line.

It was that touch that enabled the Saxons to take an early 19-11 lead, but the long range marksmanship of Blake Mueller, Josh Spandiary and Chris Kelly abandoned the Saxons until late in the fourth quarter.

"I thought we started to hesitate a little with our shot selection in the second half," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams. "I thought our energy to start the game was great but we didn't start to see that until we played with more of a sense of urgency in the fourth quarter."

Trailing by 13 points with 4:57 left, Schaumburg (21-7) finally hit from behind the arc. A long one from Mueller followed by a pair from Kelly ignited a 15-4 spurt that brought the Saxons within 51-49 with 1:59 to play.

Form there, Mooney took over and Schaumburg seemingly had no answer. Mooney stole the ball away on back-to-back possessions and converted both into layups to start another Lake Zurich run. Mooney's final steal turned into a wild, stumbling layup that brought the Bears fans to their feet and built the lead back to 56-49.

Kelly led three Saxon players in scoring with 13 points. Mueller added 11, and Justin Swiercz chipped in with 10.

Warren 70, Rolling Meadows 47: After having to sit out all or portions of the last five games of the regular season for Warren, it was easy to understand why senior Jake Anderson was more than just a little excited about getting back onto the court.

So what was the perfect cure for Anderson's yearning to play again and a cure for his boredom? A stylish new hairdo, of course.

"My mom cuts hair and so I got bored and had her cut it this way," Anderson said, referring to his psuedo mohawk.

Anderson's other perfect cure for boredom was getting back on the floor, and that happened Wednesday night in the Devils' regional semifinal contest with 13th-seeded Rolling Meadows.

The 6-foot-3 Anderson contributed 10 points and 6 boards to help lift fourth-seeded Warren to a 70-47 rout of Rolling Meadows. Warren will face No. 10 seed Lake Zurich, a 62-55 upset winner over Schaumburg, in the Class 4A Lake Zurich regional final Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Rolling Meadows ended its season at 13-15.

"It was nice to be able to play people tonight when we wanted to play them instead of because had to," Warren coach Chuck Ramsey said. "I thought Jake did an excellent job on (Richie) Kemph, especially in the second half."

Kemph got the Mustangs going in the right direction, scoring the first 9 Meadows points. Warren (21-5) had several answers for Kemph and the Mustangs, particularly seniors Brandon Paul and David Duncan.

Duncan followed up his hot shooting at Lake Zurich in January with another long range display. His pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter helped along a 20-2 burst that broke the game open for the Devils.

Duncan scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half. The Illinois-bound Paul led all scorers with 20 points including a host of highlight reel dunks.

"We got out and worked on getting our basics back over the last week," Ramsey said. "We worked on our rebounding and defense and it was our defense that made a difference in that second quarter."

Kemph led all Meadows scorers with 15 points. Ted Metzger was also in double figures for the Mustangs with 10 points.

Shahron Thomas was the only other Blue Devil in double figures with 12 points.