Saxons set for tough task
Beating Conant three times in a row in Perry Gymnasium would appear to be a daunting task.
Schaumburg believes it can pull it off when it meets its Mid-Suburban West rival in what figures to be an electric atmosphere at 7:30 p.m. today for the Conant Class 4A regional title.
"Why not? Why not?" said Schaumburg junior guard Cully Payne.
Especially since a 59-49 win two weeks ago at No. 2 Conant (20-6) started the No. 7 Saxons (17-9) on their four-game winning streak.
Payne scored 25 points for the third time this season in the last meeting against the MSL's stingiest team at 42.5 points a game allowed.
But the Saxons have also allowed less than 50 points in the first three games of their streak before their dramatic 67-66 win over Hoffman Estates on Wednesday.
"If we keep it up through a whole game we can be dominant defensively," said Schaumburg junior guard Perrish Bell.
And Schaumburg didn't leave Conant on Wednesday believing it played its best game by any means.
"We played to win but we didn't execute anything to our full potential," Bell said. "If we come to our full potential (tonight) we've got a chance to win."
The Saxons hope having been through the first of these MSL West rivalry games pays off tonight.
"The situation overwhelmed us a little bit (at times)," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams. "But we've already been through it and that's an advantage to us.
"This is an epic battle each and every time we play between any one of the three of us. Magnify that by the winner goes on and the loser goes home, that makes it a huge game and we've been through it once already."
Conant also believes a not-as-easy as the 61-44 win over Grant might appear on Tuesday magnified what's at stake for a lineup with four senior starters.
"It reminds you that every game is do or die going into the state playoffs for us seniors," said Conant guard Tommy Sotos, who scored a career-high 24 points in a 53-49 win at Schaumburg on Jan. 12. "This is it.
"This one reminds you, if they beat us this game, our season's done, our careers are over."
A sentiment shared by 6-foot-5 Chris Hoffman after he scored a career-high 17 points against Grant.
"I think it's a big advantage and wakeup call for us in a way," Hoffman said of not having a first-round breeze. "When we dropped two to Warren and Schaumburg it was a wakeup call for BG (61-51 MSL title-game victory).
"At state tournament time anything can happen. Now we want to come out ready for (tonight)."
With the winner playing again in Wednesday's sectional semifinal at Barrington against Highland Park or Waukegan.
No rematch gets BG's eye: Fifth-seed Buffalo Grove (19-8) hoped to get a chance tonight at Palatine to avenge losses in last year's AA sectional final and its Thanksgiving tournament this season to nearby rival Stevenson.
Those plans were emphatically changed this week when No. 14 Lake Zurich (17-11) knocked off No. 4 Stevenson 61-45.
"I've seen very few teams be able to do that to Stevenson," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor of the worst loss in two seasons for last year's fourth-place state finisher.
But Lake Zurich isn't the ordinary 14th seed with only 1 loss outside of North Suburban Lake play and 8 wins in its last nine games.
Juniors Connor Mooney at guard and 6-6 Brandon Kunz inside give the Bears a tough combination for opposing defenses.
"I think we have a chance against about anybody the way we're playing right now," Kunz said after Monday's 61-46 win over Palatine. "Defensively we've gotten so much better. It's perfect timing.
"We decided to start playing and working as a team. We're starting to play well together."
That's what Lake Zurich coach John Zarr hoped for after a 3-1 finish at the Pekin tournament as his team avenged 20- and 7-point losses to Stevenson.
"We've had a very tough schedule in February with a lot of games," Zarr said of his team with five juniors in its top seven. "We saw some flashes of improvement around Christmas and thought we could be playing our best ball in February.
"Obviously at tournament time you want to be playing your best basketball and I think we are right now. We're excited about being here and think we can play with anybody."
The senior-laden Bison led by Brian DeSimone, Mike Ricciardi and Paul Timko are chasing a third-straight regional title and school-record fourth-straight 20-win season. They rebounded from their MSL title loss to Conant by beating MSL East rival Rolling Meadows for the third time 53-51.
"I thought we played pretty well," O'Connor said. "We played hard and competitive and the kids responded. They kept their composure down the stretch."
The winner advances to Tuesday's Barrington sectional semifinal against top-seed Zion-Benton or Mundelein.
MSL vs. CSL: No. 7 Hersey and No. 8 Prospect face two of the top programs from the Central Suburban League in regional finals determining two of the Evanston sectional semifinalists.
Hersey (15-12) plays No. 2 New Trier (19-7) at Wheeling. Prospect (17-10) gets top-seed Evanston (25-3) at Niles North.
The Huskies ended a four-game losing streak with a fourth-quarter rally fueled by seniors Luke Fabrizius, Griffin Dwyer and Mike Mueller in Wednesday's 63-55 win over Wheeling.
Coach Steve Messer said they'll need the same attacking mentality against New Trier's Peter and Jack Boehm and sophomore Alex Rossi.
"What we needed to do (for Wheeling) we need to do as well," Messer said. "I haven't seen them be real successful against extreme pressure (defense). That's what we have to do because they pass well and shoot well.
"And our help defense has got to be there to protect the basket."
At the other end, the Huskies can't settle for outside shots against New Trier's 1-3-1 zone. Messer said they never wavered from going inside even though Wheeling's Al Chery blocked 5 shots.
"I told (Mueller), Chery is going to block a few shots but don't worry about it," Messer said of Mueller's career-high 18 points. "Keep doing it. That was the key."
Prospect continued its second-half roll with its 10th win in 12 games as it avenged an earlier loss to Notre Dame 69-62 on Wednesday.
The Knights' big three of Jeff Heiden, 6-6 Kevin Reed and 6-6 Alex Toth will have their hands full against the balanced Wildkits and CSL South player of the year Zachary Morton (12 ppg).
Evanston's only losses were by 3 points to New Trier two weeks ago, 2 points to 24-3 Morton at the Proviso West tournament and by 10 points in the season opener to 27-3 Zion-Benton.
The Prospect-Evanston winner faces the Loyola-St. Viator winner in Tuesday's sectional semifinal at Evanston. The Hersey-New Trier winner plays Maine East or Von Steuben on Wednesday.
A tough way to end: Hoffman Estates trailed for approximately 4½ of the 32 minutes of Wednesday's game with Schaumburg.
And that's what made losing 67-66 on a free throw with 7½ seconds left more painful.
"We played hard and we played well but we made some dumb mistakes at the end that cost us," said Hoffman junior guard Luke Mead.
Some of which Hoffman coach Bill Wandro saw more as a matter of almost too much desire to reach tonight's regional final.
"To allow the other team to win on free throws when you have the lead is maddening," Wandro said of the Saxons' final 3 points in the last 39 seconds. "I believe they wanted it so bad they went after it.
"Fundamentally we got ourselves in positions that allowed the officials to control the end of the game."
And it didn't help having Mead reduced to a cheerleader for the final 39 seconds with 5 fouls. He put on a spectacular display with 25 points, 7 assists, 6 rebound and 2 drawn charging fouls.
"Luke had a great game and he showed a lot of leadership," Wandro said.
Recapturing the touch: A week after getting a nasty whack in the left eye, Conant's Tommy Sotos recaptured his shooting eye with 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field and 4-for-8 on 3s against Grant.
"The past three or four games my shot hasn't been dropping," Sotos said. "It was a matter of getting in the gym and putting a few extra shots up."
It didn't hurt to have the first one Sotos put up Tuesday go in for 3 points.
"The first one always helps but that's one of the things I've improved on this year," Sotos said. "Usually I miss the first one and come back and knock down some shots now. The past four games that hasn't been happening."
Rebounding from tough times: Schaumburg scoring leaders Cully Payne and Brandon Bolger were a combined 3-for-14 from the field in the first half against Hoffman.
"Coach (Bob Williams) said in the second half big players kind of step it up," Payne said after scoring 19 of his 24 points in the final 14 minutes.
"He's a great competitor," Williams said.
And after sitting the first 6:25 of the fourth quarter because of a defensive lapse, Bolger accepted Williams' challenge in a timeout and he ended up hitting the tying free throw and defending a last-gasp 3 to win.
"When I was out it was awesome to see our players come back and win the game," Bolger said. "The reason why we won is we started playing defense."
A nice sendoff: Lake Zurich coach John Zarr on the end of Palatine coach Ed Molitor's 42-year career: "When I talked to Ed before the game I said, 'No matter what the outcome, you've done an awful lot for Illinois high school basketball. Regardless of the outcome I wanted to say thank you.'"