Mead leads Hoffman to big start

Hoffman Estates wasted little time in taking control of its season opener in the Crystal Lake Central Coaches vs. Cancer Thanksgiving Tourney.

Hoffman (1-0) led 21-10 after one quarter and then exploded for 28 points in the second quarter in cruising to a 76-34 victory over Antioch.

Junior guard Luke Mead scored of 15 of his game-high 21 points in the first half --including back-to-back 3- pointers in the second quarter -- which ignited a 15-0 run and increased the Hawks' advantage to 45-16.

"We were hustling a lot and getting a lot of offensive rebounds," said Mead of the second-quarter breakout. "They were crashing the boards and that opened up the 3-pointers."

Senior Casey Terry led an aggressive defense which took full advantage of Antioch's 15 first-half turnovers and limited the Sequoits to 34 percent shooting (8-for-23).

"It feels good," added Terry, who contributed 9 points. "We always talk about getting in the passing lanes and we were ready. We just pushed ourselves."

And there was plenty of credit to go around for the Hawks with senior Ben Collins chipping in 12 points and 6-foot-4 forward Kevin Lessner adding 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Junior Chris Hall (10 points) and senior Steve Anderson (6 points) came off the bench for the Hawks.

"It was a good start," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro, whose team shot a sizzling 58 percent (33-for-56). "Everybody played their role and everybody played together."

Antioch (0-1) and first-year head coach Mike Skinner knew there were going to be growing pains with a young team where a freshman and three sophomores that saw significant playing time.

Hoffman used that inexperience to score on a number of backdoor cuts and also crash the offensive boards.

"We're young but that's no excuse," said Skinner, whose team fell behind 49-19 after three quarters, which started a running clock for the entire fourth quarter. "That scoreboard is no indication of the work they have done … but we kind of fell apart."

Sophomore Kyle Haley came off the bench to score a team-high 9 points and freshman Kyle Melton and junior Alec Paramski both contributed 8 points for the Sequoits.

Schaumburg 69, Rockford Auburn 59: ROCKFORD -- It was only Cully Payne's second game for Schaumburg, but he's definitely making an impact.

The 6-foot-2 transfer from Burlington Central has two previous years of varsity experience that he's putting to good use for the Saxons.

"All I really want to do is come out here and make them better," said Payne of his new teammates. "From the first game (Tuesday night) to today, there's a better difference. That's what I want to do -- help these guys."

And help he did.

The junior scored 16 points including two 3-pointers to lead Schaumburg to a 69-59 win over Rockford Auburn Friday in the Rockford Boylan boys basketball Thanksgiving tournament.

"The first game we were a little tentative and still reading each other a little bit," Payne said. "Now we're playing together in a rhythm. Defensively, we were a lot better."

Payne is a welcome addition for coach Bob Williams.

"He's running our offense and playing point," Williams said. "He's done a great job for us. He's a great kid.

"He's still trying to figure out how he fits in exactly. I couldn't ask for more from a young man."

But the win was hardly the result of a single player.

After opening the game with 3-pointers by Payne and Brandon Bolger (11 points), the Saxons (2-0) never trailed.

Schaumburg opened up several leads of 15 points, but the Knights' size, speed and rebounding brought those under control.

"I thought both teams played extremely hard," Williams said. "The execution on each end wasn't what either coach wanted."

The real difference in the game came down to free throws, where the Saxons made 23-of-30. The Knights hit just 9-of-25.

"I feel a little bit fortunate that (Auburn) shot free throws so poorly -- otherwise the outcome may have been different," Williams said. "Part of that, the reason they shot free throws so poorly, was the style of the game. We really were very aggressive defensively and got a lot of good things done."

Perrish Bell was 6-of-7 from the stripe while Dan Slowik was 5-of-5.

"I think (the game) went good," Bell said. "We came out and played a hard game defensively. (On offense), we could've executed better."

In the fourth quarter, Auburn's big guns Darnell Van Vleet (18), Keenan Knowles (14) and Eddie Cade (10) turned it up and cut the deficit to 55-51 with 2:37 left.

But 6-of-8 free-throw shooting by Payne in the last minute finished the game.

"It's early in the season," Williams said. "I like the style we're playing. I like the aggressiveness and enthusiasm. Those are all good things, but the execution left something to be desired."

The Saxons will get to work on that execution with two more games today beginning with a 1:30 p.m. contest against Rockford Jefferson. Schaumburg concludes the tournament against the host Titans at 8 p.m.

-- Bill Swick

Loyola 56, Barrington 44: If the effort stays the same Barrington figures the results will change.

And that's why the Broncos (1-2) didn't feel so badly about a 56-44 loss to Loyola (3-0) in the third round of the Mundelein Boys Basketball Tournament.

"I really felt we worked a lot harder," said 6-foot-1 Barrington senior Wade Lernihan, who had 10 points and 9 rebounds. "We were flat against Carmel."

And that was a 48-33 victory on Wednesday.

"I'll take our defensive effort any day of the week," said Barrington coach Marty Dello, whose team is without injured starters Peter Leonard and Daniel Evers. "I'm more pleased with this loss than the Carmel win."

Barrington accomplished one of its missions with its box-and-one defense on Loyola star Rob Belcore. The 6-5 Belcore, the team's only returning starter who is headed to Penn, had 6 points on 2-for-6 shooting.

"I thought we did a good job on that without practicing it all," Lernihan said.

But Belcore was content not to force the issue and junior Matt Sullivan (22 points) and senior Cynerick Osinaike (16 points) did the damage for the Ramblers.

After Lernihan's drive 1:46 after halftime got Barrington within 30-24, Belcore found Osinaike for a 3-pointer to start a personal 7-point run. Loyola never led by less than 9 points the rest of the way.

"Did you see some of the passes he made," Loyola coach Bryan Tucker said with a smile of Belcore. "He only had 6 points and I thought he dominated the game.

"We feel we've got more threats on the floor and if teams want to do that, more power to them."

Loyola also had a decisive first-half rebounding advantage -- 18-10 overall and 11-5 offensive -- and led 28-19 despite 13 points from senior Charlie Douglas.

But Lernihan had 4 second-half offensive rebounds as Barrington finished even at 15-15. Junior Mack Darrow had 10 rebounds and 3 blocks but was held to 5 points on 1-for-10 shooting.

Connor Jenkins came off the bench to add 7 points for the Broncos.

"I think we really showed a lot tonight without two of our starters," Lernihan said. "Once we get them back it will make a big difference."

-- Marty Maciaszek

Prospect 70, Proviso W. 55: Jeff Heiden hit five 3-pointers en route to a team-high 19 points for Prospect (2-1) in the St. Charles East tournament.

Alex Toth added 14 points and Kevin Reed scored 12 as Prospect led 30-12 at halftime.

Rich S. 63, Wheeling 50: Chris McClellan scored a game-high 24 points but Wheeling (1-2) couldn't overcome 24 turnovers against Rich South (2-1) in the consolation championship game of Niles West's Billy D. Schnurr tournament.

McClellan hit four 3s and Mike Barton (10 points) hit two 3s. Rich South extended a 25-22 halftime lead to 44-33 after three quarters.

"They just hit some really good shots -- at least they were shots they had to earn," said Wheeling coach Lou Wool. "We had some jittery turnovers but we played pretty tough."