Spandiary sparks Schaumburg

Winning on the road in the Mid-Suburban League isn't easy. Sometimes, winning at home can be a little nerve-racking, too.

Case in point: In Friday's MSL West boys basketball opener at Schaumburg, the Saxons saw a 14-point halftime lead dwindle to 4 early in the fourth quarter. That's when Christian Spandiary took over.

The three-year varsity player and the unanimous choice of his teammates to be captain knocked down a pair of long-range 3-pointers and scored 13 of his career-high 31 points in the last 6:19. The result was a 63-47 victory that was anything but easy.

Schaumburg (4-2, 1-0) scored 10 straight points to turn a 47-43 lead into a 57-43 cushion with 2:02 remaining, and Spandiary finished the game by making 4 free throws in the final 1:03.

"Christian was great," Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh said. "He scored a lot of points, but he played an all-around game.

"And Kyle (Bolger) did a great job of running the point," Walsh said. "When we play together, they make each other better."

"We felt good as a team," Spandiary said. "I was feeling it, and they kept giving me the ball. We buckled down on defense."

"We got Christian open, and he came up clutch," Bolger said. "I try to be a true point guard, and if someone is feeling it, get him the ball."

Both pointed to the defensive pressure as the key to the Saxons' success.

"That's what we want to do," Bolger said.

"We started the game with great defensive intensity," Walsh said. "In the third quarter, we had some lulls. We've been talking about wanting to play a full 32 minutes."

Fremd (3-2, 0-1) overcame a first half that was punctuated by 13 turnovers and outscored the hosts 23-13 in the third quarter.

"We did a nice job coming out of halftime," Fremd coach Bob Widlowski said. "Their pressure took us out of it in the first half. We simply did a better job of executing what we wanted to run."

Sean Benka scored all 7 of his points in the third quarter, and Adam Gorecki added 6 of his team-best 17. Garrett Peters pitched in 5 of his 12 in the third quarter.

"Fremd showed a lot of character," Walsh said. "Their kids fought back."

"I thought Gorecki and Peters did a nice job, especially in the second half," Widlowski said. "We'd like to play that way the whole game."