Williams' 'big-time shot' lifts Fremd
Fremd's Xavier Williams was quick to acknowledge his teammates for setting up his game-winning 3-point basket with 10.4 seconds left.
Vikings coach Bob Widlowski was quick to give credit to his defensive assistant Mike Brown for inserting Samson Oladimeji into the game with .3 seconds remaining.
“The play was designed for me to get the ball in the post,” said Williams. “I got good screens from Zack Schoffstall (10 points) and Ryan Kraske (6 points) to get me open on the left wing. I couldn't believe how open I was. It was a pressure shot and I made it.”
That shot propelled the Vikings past the host Pirates 43-41 in both teams' Mid-Suburban West opener.
Oladimeji, a 6-foot-3 junior, was inserted into the game with three seconds left after a Pirates timeout.
Palatine's Jovone Stricker had driven the lane, but his off-balance shot bounced off the rim and the ball went out of bounds to the Pirates.
Oladimeji tipped the inbounds pass and then secured the ball as the horn sounded.
“Coach Brown is responsible for that play,” Widlowski said. “He wanted to put in our most athletic player on the inbounds play. With only .3 left all Palatine could do was lob the ball.”
That ended as intense a Fremd-Palatine battle in memory that featured 19 lead changes.
“Both teams played hard,” said Pirates coach Eric Millstone. “The effort was equal on both sides. They just had a good player who hit a big shot at the end. In a close game like this, it's easy to look and see what the difference was. They made one more play than we did.”
“Xavier hit the big-time shot and then we made two stops at the end,” Widlowski said. “He had a real good game both on offense and defense. He prepared himself well for this game and executed.”
Mike Williams' basket with :43 left gave the Pirates a 41-40 lead. Williams scored 15 points to lead both teams and pulled down 7 rebounds. Chris Macahon added 8 points and Matt Ulrich 7.
“We just have to come out tomorrow and play with the same intensity against Buffalo Grove,” said Williams. “We're going to have to be more patient and find the open man.”
“We played really good defense,” said Widlowski. “Our guys did things to put us into a position to win. This is a tough place to play in. It was a good ballgame for both sides.”