Big wins for Wheeling, Palatine
Wheeling's boys basketball team came out with a flat effort Saturday in its Mid-Suburban League crossover with visiting Schaumburg.
The Wildcats lost a 7-point fourth-quarter lead and game to Elk Grove on Friday night. They trailed the Saxons by 8 points after a quarter and 7 points at halftime.
But a defensive switch from a matchup zone to a 1-3-1 trapping zone sparked the Wildcats (3-3) as they pulled out a 46-44 victory. Charlie Kirk (team-high 12 points) had a steal and layup with a little more than a minute left to give them the lead for good.
"(Ricky9) Schwind and (Billy) Jamie were huge defensively and we rebounded much better out of the 1-3-1," said Wheeling coach John Clancy. "The kids didn't waver. They competed harder and got after every loose ball in the second half."
Riley Harvey (10 points), Tyler Shaprio (9 points) and Nick Boyd (8 points) were a big part of Wheeling's balanced attack.
Schaumburg (2-5) lost its fourth straight despite 13 points from Christian Spandiary and 11 points and three 3-pointers from Mark Bielanski.
Palatine 65, Prospect 55: Foul trouble kept Palatine's John Millin off the scoreboard and on the bench for all but 2½ minutes of the first half of the MSL crossover at Prospect's Jean Walker Field House.
But Millin scored his game-high 16 points in the final 16 minutes as Palatine (3-3) rallied from a 7-point halftime deficit to complete a weekend sweep.
"I thought our offensive movement was really good," said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. "And we had Millin for a whole half and we saw the things he can do when he stays out of foul trouble.
"He was able to spread some people out and get to the rim and we rebounded the ball real well in the second half."
Six-foot-5 sophomore Josh Baldus scored 9 of his 11 points in the first half to keep Palatine behind just 33-26 at intermission.
"This was Josh's coming out party," Millstone said. "He played with a lot of confidenceand that's how we expected him to play."
Millin's 3 at the third-quarter buzzer put Palatine up 47-42. Tom Hauert had 11 points, Peter Bony added 10 and Egan Malley scored 8 for the winners.
"Once we got the lead we were poised enough to finish it," Millstone said.
Mike LaTulip led Prospect (2-3) with 12 points. Dan O'Brien added 11, Matt Loebbaka had 10 and Terry Redding scored 9 points.
Buffalo Grove 78, Barrington 75: Nick Prus hit 1 of 2 free throws with six seconds left to set the final margin for Buffalo Grove (4-2) in the MSL crossover as it bounced back from a 70-57 loss to Hersey on Friday.
Prus had a game-high 23 points with four 3s, 6-7 junior Sam Wacker had 16 points and Luke Potnick and Dan Recht each added 12 points.
"Our energy level was through the roof," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. "We talked about it (Friday) night and when I walked in (Saturday) the kids were having a team meeting on their own downstairs before the game.
"I didn't have to say anything to them. We played very well and Barrington played very well."
BG led 46-44 at halftime. Mark Bennett scored 14 points to lead Barrington and Tyler Weathered and Brad Zaumseil added 11 and 10 points respectively.
Fremd 61, Rolling Meadows 42: Zach Monaghan scored a game-high 21 points as Fremd (4-2) took command in the middle quarters of the MSL crossover to extend its winning streak to four games.
Monaghan hit three 3-pointers and 6-foot-7 Joe Leaf provided the inside damage with a career-high 12 points. Quinton Brown added 11 points as the Vikings extended a 14-12 first-quarter lead to 30-23 at halftime and 45-28 after three quarters.
Paul Volkman led Meadows (3-3) with 15 points. Tyler Gaedele scored 12 on four 3-pointers and Brian Nelms added 9 points.
Northridge Prep 51, U-High 41: Joe Stoll led the way with 18 points, as host Northridge Prep (3-2, 1-0) defeated U-High 51-41.