Schaumburg loses title to Plainfield East
There were chances for Schaumburg’s boys basketball team to let the championship game of the 53rd annual St. Charles East Thanksgiving Tournament completely slip away Saturday night.
And the final seconds were among the opportunities the Saxons had to finally slip ahead of Plainfield East.
But Schaumburg never could put together a surge large enough as it fell 37-35 when all-tournament pick Jimmy Lundquist’s desperation 28-footer from the sideline was on line but short.
“We thought we were going to win the game,” said Schaumburg senior Christian Spandiary, who had 10 points and 9 rebounds.
Spandiary and coach Matt Walsh also knew where it was lost after the Saxons (3-1) shot 29 percent from the field (11-for-38) and 4-for-16 on 3-pointers. They finished with a 27-25 rebound advantage and the turnovers were even at 14-14.
“It comes down to loose balls and playing tougher than the other team,” Spandiary said.
“It seemed like we played hard and executed in spurts,” Walsh said of a game the Saxons never led. “Then we had lackadaisical lulls with mistakes that really cost us and they were talented enough to be able to capitalize on it.”
Particularly after Schaumburg tied it at 27-27 on a 3 by Mike Mallet (8 points) and a free throw by Spandiary with 58 seconds left in the third.
The Saxons couldn’t get to a loose ball to start the fourth quarter and Mack Brown penetrated and kicked the ball to Austin Robinson for a 3 to put Plainfield East ahead to stay. Myles Walters then found 6-foot-9 Brian Bennett (13 points, 11 rebounds) for a layup and a 32-27 lead with 7:02 to play.
“The first minute of the fourth quarter was really the key part of the game,” Walsh said.
“I didn’t think we played our best game by any means,” said Plainfield East coach Branden Adkins of his third-year varsity program. “But down the stretch we made some better decisions in the fourth quarter than we did in the third.
“They (Schaumburg) are a good team. They have good kids and run their stuff well. It’s a good win for us.”
A steal led to Brown’s 3 for a 37-31 lead with 4:01 left but Schaumburg made a late push to get the title trophy. All-tourney pick Kyle Bolger (10 points) hit 2 free throws, stole the inbound pass and Cole Reyes tipped in a missed layup to make it 37-35 with 1:10 left.
Schaumburg got the ball back on a turnover 13 seconds later but Bolger missed a tough turnaround inside against Bennett with 15 seconds to play. Tournament MVP Deontre’ Brown missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 4.7 seconds left and Spandiary rebounded and got the ball quickly to Lundquist for one final chance.
“I didn’t want to let them get their defense set,” Walsh said of not using a timeout. “At this point in the season we haven’t worked too much on end of game situations.”
Schaumburg hopes it leads to a better situation than last year when it went 2-2 in the tourney but then lost three in a row. A rough stretch starts Tuesday against Lake Park.
“On Monday we have to go hard in practice and be tough,” Spandiary said. “We can’t let down like we did last year.”