Late defensive effort lifts St. Viator past Palatine

St. Viator's defensive experience paid off down the stretch at Palatine on Tuesday night.

The Lions took the ball away three times from the host Pirates in the last :40 to preserve a 44-40 nonconference boys basketball victory.

Alan Aboona's 2 free throws sealed the deal for the 7-2 Lions (7-2) with 6.7 second left in the game.

"It was a tough, physical game," said Aboona, who scored 9 points and had the key steal with 12 seconds left. "Good teams find a way to win late in a game. Tonight, we found a way to win. In the past we would lose a game like this, so our experience showed. Even if the offense isn't doing so well, we can always fall back on our defense."

The Lions needed their best defense against an improving Palatine team.

Palatine (4-5) only led 2-0 and 10-8 early, but always kept the Lions in sight.

Aboona's 3-point play and 2 free throws gave the Lions a 13-10 lead to end the quarter.

"Give Palatine credit," said St. Viator coach Joe Majkowski. "We told the kids that they would be scrappy. Our kids know how to win and we got the steals at the end. When we had to get tough on defense we did."

Building a 34-25 lead with 7:16 left in the game following a Chris Myjak (10 points, 10 rebounds) basket for Viator, the Pirates began to claw back in to the contest.

Mykyta Cheshko (12 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) pulled Palatine to within 2 twice - at 38-36 and 42-40 with 1:23 left.

That would be as close as the Pirates would get.

"It was going to come down to a last-possession game," said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. "We had a good effort. If we keep bringing good efforts like this, we will keep ourselves in the games. Our players' efforts kept us in this one."

Jake Velinski scored 11 for Palatine and Richard McLoughlin added 10 points for the winners.