Right turn for Saxons, Spandiary
Turnovers ignited Schaumburg's second-half turnaround Saturday night.
They also fired up senior Christian Spandiary and the host Saxons in a 67-60 comeback victory over defending Mid-Suburban League boys basketball champion Prospect in their crossover matchup.
"Off of turnovers we really worked hard to get down the floor and we were really running out," said Schaumburg senior guard Joey Faleni of scoring 29 points off 20 Prospect miscues. "In the second half we got out a little harder in transition."
The big beneficiary was the 6-foot-2 Spandiary as he scored 25 of his 27 points after intermission. He shot 10-for-12 from the field and drew a pair of charging fouls as the Saxons (5-2) took advantage of 13 turnovers to wipe out a 7-point deficit 1:07 into the second half.
Schaumburg shot 16-for-22 from the field in the second half (72.7 percent) to finish at 50 percent overall (23-for-46).
"In the first half we weren't playing to our full potential but in the second half we executed," said Spandiary, who scored a career-high 31 points in Friday's win over Fremd.
"Christian showed great leadership this entire weekend," said Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh. "When we were struggling in the middle quarters, especially in the third quarter, he made some hustle plays and a couple of steals that we converted into layups. We fed off him a little bit."
Faleni (8 points, 3 assists) did his part on the other end by limiting Prospect (2-3) senior guard Mike LaTulip to 15 points on 2-for-12 shooting from the field and 2-for-8 behind the 3-point arc.
"We really had to have good ball pressure," Faleni said. "He can't score if he can't catch the ball. It was a group effort and we did well with it."
A 3 by LaTulip with 7:50 left put Prospect ahead 43-41. A 3 by Spandiary with 6:55 left off 1 of 5 assists by Kyle Bolger (9 points) sparked a 13-2 tear for the Saxons where the final 10 points came off turnovers.
A 19-footer by Jack Landwehr (10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) got Prospect within 46-45. But Faleni found Jimmy Lundquist (14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) for a 3 and a layup and Spandiary drew a charge and hit a 3 off a Bolger assist to make it 54-45 with 3:43 left.
Prospect would get no closer than 5 points twice the last at 62-57 with 36 seconds left.
"Credit Schaumburg, they cranked the defense up," said Prospect coach John Camardella. "They took us out of what we were trying to do and that's something we have to get back to work on. As a team we have to learn to manage runs better."
Prospect managed a nice one the first seven minutes of the second quarter to turn a 19-16 deficit into a 27-20 lead behind Landwehr, Brad Reibel (14 points on 7-for-8 shooting) and Kevin Somogyi (13 points, 8 rebounds).
Somogyi scored the first 7 points of the second half and his 3-point play off Landwehr's floor-length drive and assist put the Knights up 34-27.
"We felt good and then Spandiary went wild," Camardella said.
"We definitely locked down on defense harder and that opened up our offense a little more," Faleni said. "It was easy to get runouts and easy baskets."