Boys basketball: Palatine survives Conant’s late 19-0 run, holds on for 3-point win
With host Palatine leading Conant 52-30 at the 1:48 mark of the third quarter in a Mid-Suburban League West boys basketball game Friday night, a fire alarm blared, forcing the evacuation of all from the gym and a 15-minute interruption.
It chilled the hot Pirates.
And it ignited the visiting Cougars.
Conant scored the last 6 points of the third quarter and the first 13 points of the final frame and trailed only 52-49 with 2:35 left.
Palatine senior guard Carter Monroe (12 points, 6 boards) netted a free throw — with only 43 seconds remaining — to halt the drought, junior guard Darrin Dick secured 2 key rebounds in the final minute, and the Pirates escaped with a 55-52 win.
That protracted “Phew!” you heard at around 9 p.m. came from Palatine coach Eric Millstone.
“We needed it,” he said of the 22-point cushion his club had earned before the night’s second intermission. “It gave us plenty of room for error. We made a lot of errors in the fourth quarter.
“Credit Conant,” added the coach, who coached Cougars coach Greg Grana (Palatine HS, Class of 2013). “Greg’s team played hard and never looked at the scoreboard after the fire alarm.”
Cougars Harlum Drake and Rohan Patel hit consecutive treys in the final 1:22 of the third quarter. Conant senior guard Nate Hahn (18 points) opened the fourth with a bucket before senior forward Bradley Biedke (15 points, 8 rebounds) poured in 6 of the visitors’ next 8 points.
Hahn capped the 19-0 run with another field goal.
“Wait, 19-0?” Grana said after his squad slipped to 10-9 overall, 3-2 in the MSL West. “We scored that many in a row? That’s an absolute credit to our seniors who never wavered in their belief in each other. I don’t need a yes or a no when I ask our guys about belief. The look they give me is all I need. We go when our defense goes, which got going late. ‘D’ is our motor.”
“Palatine is a well-coached, disciplined team,” he continued. “Yes, I’m biased, having played here for Eric.”
Millstone’s crew of Pirates (11-8, 3-2) scorched twine early, getting a trio of 3-pointers from Dick (12 points, all via the trey) in the first half and 1 apiece from senior guard Andy Iliopoulos (18 points) and junior forward Tony Balanganayi (11 points, 8 rebounds).
Palatine led 21-11 after 8 minutes and 36-21 at the break. The hosts answered Conant’s 6-0 spurt at the start of the second quarter by tallying the next 8 points.
Balanganayi’s acrobatic layup at the 1:27 mark drew roars of approval from fans and upped Palatine’s advantage to 31-21.
Iliopoulos scored 7 of Palatine’s 16 points in the third quarter and 2 of the Pirates’ 3 points — all freebies — in the final 8 minutes.
“Andy is as steady as the day is long,” Millstone said. “Tonight was his best game of the season, period. He’s taken advantage of his extended minutes.”
“We huddled before free throws, doing our best to stay composed and locked in defensively,” Iliopoulos said. “Big win.
“Big conference win.”
Seniors accounted for all of Conant’s scoring Friday night. Andreas Sassaris and Drake finished with 8 and 5 points, respectively.
“I’m proud of our effort,” Grana said. “You always want to win, but when you don’t, you want to at least know what we know tonight—that we competed.”