Boys basketball: Palatine surges past Lake Park in opener

With the new look MSL West heading their way, Palatine and head coach Eric Millstone knew that they would need to get off to a good start this season.

The Pirates showed off their length, tough play and depth Tuesday as Palatine knocked off Lake Park 51-32 at the Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic in Palatine.

“I think Lake Park is indicative of what we are going to see night in and night out,” Millstone said. “This is a great prep for us for what we are going to see the rest of the season. I was pleased tonight with the mentality and the effort we had in the half court.”

Lake Park got off to a fast start. The Lancers got three-pointers from Maximilian Alvarado and Christian Burge as they built an early 10-5 lead.

Palatine then used its length and its physical play to roar back.

The Pirates held Lake Park scoreless for just over eight minutes. During that span Palatine forced five turnovers and limited the Lancers to 0-of-12 shooting.

Meanwhile the Pirates offense heated up.

With Brady May, Tony Balanganayi and Abram Williams leading the way, the Pirates rattled of 17 unanswered points to surge ahead 22-10. Palatine was able to keep that momentum going and led 27-15 at the break.

“Getting to the hole is something I have been working on,” said Williams, who finished with 15 points. “All summer, I was just working on getting more aggressive as possible. We knew the conference is going to be tough this year, so we know we have to be ready for every single game.”

Palatine led 36-23 after three quarters when Lake Park tried to get back into the game. The Lancers got baskets from Luca Stella and Freddy Battaglia as they closed the deficit to 9 points with 7:12 to play.

But Palatine picked up the pace. Palatine went on an 8-0 run to open up a 44-27 lead with 2:22 left and put the game away.

“We are glad to get this ‘W’ today,” said Balanganayi, who finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds. “We are crashing the boards, but we still have a lot of improvement to do. But on the physical side, we played our heart out there.”

May also showed the Pirates’ scoring depth by finishing with 12 points.

“I think the difference for me is the confidence my teammates have in me,” May said. “They are setting me up for shots and I am ready to shoot it.”

Lake Park was led by Battaglia, who had 12 points and 8 rebounds, while Stella finished with 8 points.

“Turnovers killed us,” said Lake Park coach Billy Pitcher, whose team turned the ball over 15 times.

“I thought that was the big difference in the game. It helped them get out to a double-digit lead and we weren’t able to execute.”

In earlier games at Palatine, Hersey (2-0) beat Huntley 79-43. Logan Luxem led Hersey with 20 points, Charlie Pomis had 19 points and Ethan Gries had 11 points. Huntley (0-2) was led by Tyler Dudzinski, who had 12 points.

Stevenson won its opener with a convincing 53-32 win over Hampshire. Rocco Pagliocca led Stevenson with 21 points while Donovan Williams added 12 points. Hampshire was led by Treysan Simmons who had 16 points.