Another tough loss for Palatine

Palatine's boys basketball team was subjected to an all-too-familiar recent script in Wednesday afternoon's 13th-place game in York's 36th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic in Elmhurst.

The Pirates (6-9) were unable to hold an 8-point lead with about six minuted to play and lost 51-49 to Harlan.

Of the Pirates' four losses in their last five games since Dec. 19, one was by a point, two were by 2 points and the other was in overtime. They were 10-for-22 on free throws against Harlan.

"It's been the same thing," said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. "Every time we get to that lead we couldn't get that stop.

"We didn't execute real well down the stretch and it wasn't good clock management on our part."

Harlan went ahead with about 21/2 minutes to play and Palatine missed a shot to force overtime in the final seconds. Nat Pearson had a game-high 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field and 5 rebounds and Michael Orris had 10 points.

Kyle Held, a 6-foot-7 senior who missed the first 11 games with mono, added 8 points and 5 rebounds.

"Even though we finished 1-3 I think we're better coming out of this tournament than we were coming in it," Millstone said.