Hoffman Estates falls to Maine South
Most basketball fans will tell you that the first few minutes of the third quarter for the team that is behind are crucial.
With Maine South leading Hoffman Estates 24-18 at halftime the third quarter was the turning point.
"The first few minutes of the third quarter we let up," said Hoffman Estates senior forward Rudra Patel. "We certainly learned that a run like that can hurt you."
What the third-seeded Maine South team did was use an 8-2 spurt to open a 32-20 lead with 4:26 left in the quarter.
Maine South, now 23-9 with a 10-game win streak, went on to win the Class 4A regional semifinal at Rolling Meadows 51-41. Maine South will face Loyola, a 63-43 winner over Rolling Meadows, Friday night in the regional final.
Hoffman Estates was playing without senior Sheldon Barnett-Morales who left the team about ten days ago for personal reasons.
"We missed some shots and some layups," said Hoffman coach Luke Yanule. "Had we made them we could have been in a different situation. And our man-to-man defense could have been stronger."
Maine South senior guard Fillip Bulatovic was the spoiler for Hoffman Estates.
Bulatovic led Maine South with 20 points on 10 of 15 shooting. He grabbed 5 rebounds, picked up 2 steals and had 4 assists.
"They did a good job doubling on us in the first half," said Bulatovic. "Coach (Tony Lavorato) told us at halftime to move the ball better. We were playing too much one-on one. We had to play better as a team."
Maine South used balance scoring in the third quarter, outscoring Hoffman 14-5 to open a 38-23 lead after the quarter.
Patel, who led Hoffman (7-20) with 21 points in his final high school game, scored the Hawks' first 12 points to narrow the gap to 46-35 with 2:23 left.
Bulatovic scored then stole the ball leading to Essam Hamwi's free throw for a 49-35 Maine South lead with 1:25 left.
John Gardiner scored 12 points and Dan Crane 10 for Maine South.
"I give Luke Yanule and his team a lot of credit," said Lavorato. "I was impressed with how hard they played tonight."
While the end was bittersweet, Patel looked back on how hard his team played all year.
"It's a tough loss for us," said Patel. "We knew Maine South had good players. We leave it out on the court every day in practice and in games. Tonight our team wanted to set an example for the juniors for next season."
"Our goal this year was to make our players better people," said Yanule. "That's what we are about. Winning games is always good but at the end of the day it's a game. We had great students on this team."