Boys basketball: Stevenson denies upset-minded Buffalo Grove for regional title
Will Benson brought his Stevenson squad back to Hoffman Estates Friday evening as it sought the program's seventh straight Class 4A regional title.
In order to do so, it needed to get past an opponent only a 15-minute drive south of its campus--Buffalo Grove.
Kevin Geldon's Bison had entered the night having earned a pair of wins this week including a four overtime triumph over the regional host on Wednesday.
And it appeared through the first 3 quarters that things were heading in BG's direction as it took a 9-point lead into the fourth where it became 40-29 on a successful drive to the hoop by Jackson Oldenburg.
The lead continued to hold form at 42-33 on an Edwin Karnauchovas field goal with 6:33 left.
Then the Patriots seemed to arrive at the alarm as their season as they outpaced the Bison 18-8 down the stretch to pull out a 51-50 victory for the program's 18th regional crown in school history.
Fourth-seeded Stevenson (21-10) will now travel to Fremd Tuesday night where it will face the top-seeded sectional host Vikings (29-2), a 59-44 winner over No. 9 Lake Zurich (16-14) at the Schaumburg regional.
"I don't know what the fourth quarter was but I felt it was a lot for us and not as much for them because it was pretty grim there when we were down double figures," Benson said shortly after winning his fourth consecutive regional.
"I'm so proud of the kids. They found a way. It's such a special night for our team. It took everybody."
Senior guard Donovan Williams began the comeback for the Patriots with a 3 that cut the lead to 42-36 with 6:22 to play.
After an Alex Sirbu putback put BG (13-19) back up 6 (46-40) with 4:18, Stevenson went on a 9-0 that Williams finshed off with a basket plus a pair of charity tosses that put them ahead to stay at 49-46 with 37 seconds to go.
Williams' 20th and 21st points at the foul line were sandwiched between four of Bison junior Dylan Ronczkowski's 6 points that kept BG alive trailing 51-50 with 3 ticks left.
He would get the chance at a win when Williams missed his next two foul shots, but his half-court shot try with a second remaining fell short.
Patriot senior guards Aidan Albrecht (14 points, 6 rebounds) and Rocco Pagliocca (11 points) joined Williams in double-figures.
Pagliocca also became the first Patriot cager to win four regionals in program history. An accomplishment that famous alums like Jalen Brunson and Chris Collins never accomplished.
Williams, who crossed the 1,000 point career mark Friday, spoke of the importance of not getting down when they fell behind early in the fourth.
"We still had hope. We still kept playing together, kept fighting together. Trusting our guys no matter what. This feeling is amazing."
Karnauchovas, a sophomore, led BG with 20 points followed by a 14 point, 19 rebound effort from Sirbu, a junior.
The duo along with Ronczkowski and 6-11 junior Nathan Freiheit are all slated to return next season which gives Geldon something to build on.
"They're young guys. They've been playing with each other for a while now and they know how to feed off each other. They've got great experience (and) are up and comers."