Boys basketball: Pagliocca, Williams help Stevenson hold off Lake Park’s comeback
Stevenson got needed veteran leadership to avert disaster Wednesday at the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic at Palatine.
Stevenson built a 17-point lead late in the first quarter. The Patriots then had to hold off a furious rally by Lake Park before senior guards Rocco Pagliocca and Donovan Williams helped Stevenson pull away in the fourth quarter for a 66-51 victory.
“We have so many new faces except for Rocco (Pagliocca) and Donnie (Williams),” Stevenson coach Will Benson said. “We are still trying to figure out everyone’s role. I was happy that we figured it out.“
Pagliocca, who scored 13 of his 24 points in the final quarter, said that he, along with Williams, knew they had to demonstrate to their teammates not to give in.
“Everything was going well for us,” Pagliocca said. “We kind of relaxed a bit and they hit us hard. Donnie (Williams) and I made sure that we all knew what it was going to take. We knew we had to play hard and we did.”
Williams, who had two steals and four points in the fourth quarter, said he and Pagliocca knew they could pull through.
“Taking the reins of the team is a big ask, but it is something we are both ready to do,” said Williams, who finished 16 points. “We have a lot of sophomores and juniors. We are just ready. We have been stepping is up since last summer and getting used to playing with these guys. Rocco and I know we can deliver in the end.”
Stevenson (2-0) looked like it would run away with the game early.
The Patriots opened the contest by completely controlling both sides of the court. Stevenson hit 6 of its first 7 shots while holding Lake Park without a basket in six attempts as the Patriots built a 14-0 lead.
Stevenson kept the pressure up as its lead increased to 21-4 just before the end of the first half.
Trailing 25-9, Lake Park (0-2) began to make its move.
Sparked by Luca Stella, the Lancers scored the next seven to cut the deficit to 25-16 with 3:18 left in the half. That run got the rest of the Lake Park team on the same page as the Lancers outscored the Patriots 12-7 down the stretch to trail 32-28 on a putback by Brennan Shannon.
Lake Park stayed close in the third quarter and trailed 39-34 with 2:31 left in the period. The Lancers then got three-point shots from Stella (24 points) and Maximillian Alvarado (9 points) as Lake Park took a 40-39 lead with 1:19 left in the quarter.
But Williams hit a pair of baskets to close out the quarter. Then Pagliocca had a putback and layup to start the fourth quarter as Stevenson took a 47-40 lead.
Lake Park made one last run, cutting the Stevenson lead to 47-45 on a basket by Shannon (11 points). Stevenson went on a 9-2 run, with Pagliocca scoring seven of those points, to put the game away.
Cohen Ottaviano added 8 points for the Patriots while Aidan Albrecht had 7 points and Quinton Frakes six points.
“We were disappointed on how flat we came out,” Lake Park coach Billy Pitcher said. “Then, we showed a lot of life and did a lot of positive things that we can build from. You can’t play two and a half quarters. You have to put four quarters together.”
In other games at Palatine, York (2-0) beat Glenbrook South 45-42. Sawyer Asgedom led York with 14 points while Will O’Leary had 10 points. Glenbrook South (0-2) was led by Anthony Dragicevic with 15 points. Palatine (2-0) defeated Hampshire, 48-37. Tony Balanganayi led the Pirates with 15 points, and Robbie Wilcox added 13.