Schaumburg, McDonald on the mark
An early Wednesday morning start had no adverse effect on the shooting by the Schaumburg boys basketball team as it avoided an early exit from the 80th annual Pontiac Holiday Tournament.
Javon McDonald hit all 6 of his 3-point attempts en route to 22 points as the Saxons (5-6) beat Oak Park-River Forest 73-57 in their consolation bracket game.
One day after throwing a scare into defending Class 4A state champion Simeon, the Saxons avoided elimination from the tourney by shooting 54 percent (27-for-54) from the field. They were 12-for-16 on 3s and 7-for-8 on free throws to set up an 8 a.m. Thursday game with Curie, a 72-58 winner over Waukegan.
McDonald was just one 3-pointer shy of tying the single-game tournament record. He finished 7-for-12 from the field overall.
Christian Spandiary added 14 points and 5 rebounds and Kyle Bolger had 10 points as the Saxons led 27-21 at halftime and 52-38 after three.
Hersey 58, Freeport 40: A balanced attack helped Hersey (7-6) balance its record in the 46th annual Pekin Holiday Tournament at 2-2 with the victory in the 13th place game.
Connor Miklasz led the Huskies with 11 points and 5 assists and Justin Jobski had 9 points and 8 rebounds. Trevor Haas and Tom Sutrinaitis scored 8 points apiece and Kevin Kozil added 7 points.
Hersey shot 42.6 percent from the field (23-for-54) as it turned a 14-10 deficit after a quarter into leads of 26-19 at halftime and 41-26 after three. Freeport shot just 21.5 percent (14-for-65) and was 6-for-26 on 3-pointers.
Glenbard South 59, Palatine 56: Egan Malley scored 13 points and hit three 3s and John Millin added 9 points but Palatine (5-8) dropped its third straight game in York's 37th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic and its fifth in a row overall.
Palatine plays St. Francis at noon today in the 15th-place game.
Leyden 39, Argo 27: Brandon Stinson had 8 points, 8 assists and 4 steals to lead Leyden (4-8) in the large-school bracket seventh-place game in the 33rd annual Lemont Christmas Classic.
Eric Palmer led the Eagles with 9 points. Alex Herrera added 8 points and John Gulo chipped in 6 points.
Leyden plays Lemont at noon today for 11th place overall in the tourney.