Schaumburg doesn't break under pressure
A lesser team might have cracked and stumbled under the intense big-game pressure.
But the ability to handle difficult situations has been a trademark of one of the most successful Schaumburg boys basketball teams in program history.
And the Saxons were in a tough one early in the fourth quarter as their Class 4A sectional semifinal on their home floor was nearing a potential breaking point against Oak Park-River Forest.
Then third-seeded Schaumburg broke loose a 14-2 tear and held on for a 64-60 victory over the second-seeded Huskies on Wednesday night.
“We've seen everything,” said Schaumburg senior Michael Mallett after scoring all of his career-high 17 points in the final 17:20.
“We have a lot of experience with that,” said Schaumburg junior guard Kyle Bolger of big-game tests. “We knew we needed to calm down and run through our offense.”
Bolger (11 points) calmly hit 2 free throws with five seconds left to seal the victory and put the Saxons (24-5) in a sectional final for the third straight season. Senior Christian Spandiary scored 11 of his 20 points in the last 6:40 to give them a shot at top-seed Proviso East (29-0) in Friday's 7:30 p.m. sectional championship game.
And they will need some of the same characteristics exhibited against Oak Park (20-7) that pushed the Saxons to their third-highest win total in a season behind the 29 of the 2001 state champions and the 28 of the 1999 fourth-place state finisher.
“A number of players played extremely well and did a great job,” said Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh after his team improved to 8-3 in games decided by 5 points or less. “I thought we showed a lot of toughness and a lot of composure tonight.”
Jimmy Lundquist (9 points) hit a pair of 3s as Schaumburg raced to a 17-5 lead 7:21 before halftime. But any thoughts of an easy runaway to a 10th straight win and 15th in the last 16 games were quickly eliminated by an 11-point Oak Park run.
Oak Park took its first lead at 38-37 at the third-quarter buzzer when Bradley-bound guard Ka'Darryl Bell, who scored 15 of his 22 points in the final 8:03, slipped inside to score off his own missed free throw.
A pair of free throws by 6-foot-7 Gabe Levin, who was held to 10 of his 19-point average on 3-for-9 shooting by Spandiary and Bolger, put Oak Park up 44-42 with 6:22 left.
Then Mallett found Spandiary on a backcut for a tying layup at 5:53.
“We all trust each other,” Spandiary said.
Which showed on the next possession on a 2-on-1 after Spandiary's steal. He found Mallett for an acrobatic left-handed scoop layup as he was fouled and the 3-point play at 5:36 put the Saxons ahead to stay at 47-44.
“I just had to be patient and look for opportunities to attack,” said Mallett, who averages 7 points a game. “Kyle was dishing to me and Christian was dishing to me.”
Lundquist, Mallett and Spandiary each hit 2 free throws to cap the turnaround that put Schaumburg up 56-46 with 1:08 to play.
“Turnovers and decision-making,” Oak Park coach Matt Maloney said after five of his team's 19 miscues that came in the decisive stretch. “They did to us what we feared and what we like to do to other teams.
“They did a nice job of stopping our break and they did a nice job in their transition defense.”
The Huskies didn't give in as Bell scored 10 straight points and found Tacourrus Mattox for a layup to cut the deficit to 61-58 with 17.6 seconds left.
Bolger split his free throws with 16.4 seconds left. Levin got a tip-in to make it 62-60 and took a delay-of-game warning with six seconds left and Oak Park out of timeouts.
Lundquist calmly inbounded to Bolger and he finished off the Saxons' 18-for-21 free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter.
“We've been here before,” Walsh said. “The regular season, our practices and team meetings prepared us for situations like these.”