Palatine holds on for 44-42 win over Conant after frantic final seconds
Eric Millstone brought his Mid-Suburban West leading Palatine cagers to the east side of Hoffman Estates Tuesday night to face a Conant squad that had playing well as of late having won its last two games and three of their last five.
They sought to take a giant step toward winning the program's first MSL West title since it split the division five years ago with Barrington.
It almost saw their lead in the West damaged by a host team that made the contest one they would have to hold on until the final second ticked off the scoreboard clock in obtaining a 44-42 victory to keep sole possession of that lead.
As a result, Palatine (19-6, 7-1) needs only to win one of their final two West games: at Barrington Friday night or at home vs. archrival Fremd the following Friday to guarantee a share of the division title.
Wins by the Pirates in both games would cinch a berth in the MSL Championship game on Feb. 15 at MSL East titlist Rolling Meadows.
The Mustangs (22-4, 8-0) clinched the East division berth with a home win over Buffalo Grove Tuesday evening.
"Conant never makes it easy on anybody. That's why it's both fun and nerve-wracking playing against them because they play a full 32 minutes and you know nothing is going to come easy against them," Millstone said.
Palatine trailed Conant (12-10, 3-5) 32-31 at the end of three quarters. It rallied from an early eight-point disadvantage (27-19) in the quarter by outscoring the home team 12-5 as 6-7 junior forward Connor May tallied 7 of his game-high 20 points including a triple with 1:24 left in the period.
After connecting on four straight tosses from the charity stripe to begin the final eight minutes of play, his next trey with 2:17 left in regulation put the Pirates ahead to stay. The Cougars, however, still had two chances to potentially win or tie in the final 26 ticks of regulation. It missed the back end of a two-shot attempt at the free-throw line and then got their last shot after successfully rebounding another free throw miss with five seconds left when junior forward Camden Lathos was fouled by Palatine's Sam Millstone with three ticks left.
After Lathos missed the front end of a one-and-one, Conant again snared the rebound but both Yusuf Cisse and Bradley Biedke (9 points) missed putback attempts as the buzzer sounded.
Tyler Swierczek added 15 for Palatine, while Lathos' 11 paced the Cougar effort.
"I'm as proud of our guys as I've ever been," Conant coach Matt Walsh said. "Our guys played their hearts out. We just came up a little bit short, but it wasn't from a lack of effort."