Boys basketball: Schaumburg’s Black, Horton team up to take down Prospect

Ray Black and Tony Horton combined for 26 points and Schaumburg moved to 6-2 after its 50-40 home victory over Prospect on Saturday evening.

However, it did not come without a little bit of drama.

After leaping out to a 17-point halftime lead, the Saxons (6-2, 1-1) were feeling an unexpected emotion during the fourth quarter.

“Well, to be honest, we were scared,” said Saxons coach Jason Tucker.

They had every right to be, as Prospect (4-4, 1-2) came out of the intermission with a full court pressure defense in an effort to shake off a sluggish 11-point performance in the opening half.

“We played them in the regional semifinal last year,” said Tucker. “We were up 19. They came back, and took us into overtime. So we know that's a very good program.”

Knights guard Quinn Zinzer began the third quarter defending the length of the floor on each Saxon possession, forcing Black and Horton to earn every shot they took.

“He never wants to come out,” said Prospect coach Brad Rathe, about Zinzer. “I love Quinn for that. He wants to win so badly."

Meanwhile, Prospect guard Colin Tucker slowly began to chip away at the deficit, with 12 of his team-leading 14 points coming in the second half.

The Saxon lead was briefly down to eight, and was then cut to just six after Colin Tucker opened the final period with a 5-point outburst to make it 38-32 with 5:35 to play.

After a Schaumburg timeout, Black and Horton decided it was time to bring it home for the Saxons.

Black got physical, ripping several contested rebounds down and out of Prospect hands.

He then found Horton, who remained poised and navigated the pressure to battle for hard earned buckets underneath the basket.

“Be calm, and don't let them ever rush us,” said Horton after scoring 7 fourth quarter points.

“Teams are gonna punch us back,” added Black, who led Schaumburg with 14 points. “We can't just lay down and take it … get back up and fight back … this is what we did.”

It was a football-mentality from Black, who is a player the Saxons have been eager to see breakout.

“Ray was struggling the first four or five games of the year because he just came back from football, and it takes a little while,” said his coach, Jason Tucker. “The last two games, he's been awesome, so we're hoping that's the Ray Black we're gonna get, and that's the Ray Black people are expecting.”

The duo of Black and Horton squashed the Prospect comeback bid and built the lead back to double digits with just over a minute to play before both teams sent in mass substitutions.

Black is hoping to keep up the momentum when Hoffman Estates visits for a rivalry matchup next Friday night.

“Stay composed and ignore the noise,” said a focused Black.

Meanwhile, Rathe and Prospect are content with their second half effort, but hungry for more next time out against Oliver Gray and Barrington on Friday.

“I feel good about the fact that we didn't just give up,” said Rathe. “These kids, they fight hard."