Schaumburg seniors strong at home
It was a busy night at Schaumburg High School, with senior night activities along with the return of Hoffman Estates coach Luke Yanule, who was an assistant coach at Schaumburg for the last four years.
And then there was the fact that the Saxons were trying to stay on top of the Mid-Suburban West.
Christian Spandiary scored 14 points to lead a balanced as the Saxons led by as much as 24 during a 69-50 victory over the Hawks.
Schaumburg (15-5, 6-1) went on a 15-3 run in the first half to take an 11-point lead before Austin Terry tried to bring Hoffman Estates back on his own, scoring 7 straight points to cut the lead to 21-17.
Schaumburg responded with 12 straight points to seemingly take control of the game but Terry hit a 50-foot shot at the halftime buzzer to pull Hoffman back within 33-23. Terry finished with a game-high 23 points.
Schaumburg, though, scored the first 14 points of the third quarter to put Hoffman Estates away. Michael Mallett added 13 points while Jimmy Lundquist had 12 off the bench for Schaumburg, which was playing its last home game for nearly a month and their final MSL West home game of the season.
"Every game is important," said Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh. "We really have a great challenge ahead of us now being on the road for three consecutive weeks, and it's difficult to win on the road in the MSL West. We got our work cut out for us. We've got a difficult challenge next week going into Fremd (Friday)."
Spandiary said that it was a great feeling being on the home court one final time.
"It was really exciting being our last time out there as a team in the regular season and we just wanted to go out there and give it our best," Spandiary said.
Justin Hill, another senior starter for Schaumburg, said that walking out on the court made a certain emotion come through him.
"It was a really special moment," Hill said. "The crowd was amazing."
Hoffman Estates (5-12, 0-7) will look for its first win in divisional play next on Friday at home against Conant.