Boys basketball: Pagliocca’s 41 points send Stevenson to thrilling win over Waukegan

It was a dogfight in Waukegan's fabled "Dog Pound" gymnasium when the host Bulldogs faced Stevenson in a fast-paced North Suburban Conference boys basketball game Friday night.

Leading 71-61 with 1:42 to play, it looked like the Patriots would hold off Waukegan for a relatively drama-less victory.

But the Bulldogs fought tooth and nail down to the last second before a missed inside shot by senior Simereon Carter as the buzzer sounded allowed Stevenson to pull out a thrilling 77-75 NSC victory without having to go to overtime.

The Patriots (17-6, 6-2) got a fabulous performance from senior guard Rocco Pagliocca with a career-high 41 points and 5 rebounds.

Waukegan (16-7, 6-3) quickly chipped away at Stevenson's lead late in the game as the Patriots only hit 2 of 8 free throws in the final 22.5 seconds of the contest to help keep the Bulldogs' hopes alive.

Carter had a huge game with a team-high 37 points. But Carter missed the last shot of the game under pressure after Waukegan had outscored the Pats 14-6 in the final 1:36 of the wild contest.

"They always fight every year, they're coached well, and they play super hard,“ said Pagliocca, who had 21 points at halftime. "We kept fighting. I was able to score because people were finding me with the extra pass, and we were able to get this win against a very good team."

The Patriots led 19-15 after one quarter, 38-31 at halftime, and 56-48 after three quarters. The Pats held their biggest lead at 49-31 on Pagliocca's fifth 3-pointer with 5:14 left in the third quarter.

Senior Donny Williams was also a huge factor for Stevenson with 18 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Stevenson's Aidan Albrecht had 7 points and 7 rebounds while teammate Quinton Frakes had 8 points and 9 rebounds. The Patriots also got 5 points and 5 assists from Cohen Ottaviano.

"You want to have a chance to win in the fourth quarter and I thought we did a good job against their transition," said Stevenson coach Will Benson. "Rocco's performance was unbelievable, I've never had a kid score 40 points in my 16 years and to have 41 points against this team and these athletes is pretty wild."

Waukegan's Rico Love had 17 points while teammate Carter Newsome had 10 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Jeremiah Edwards scored 8 points for the Bulldogs.

"We have good athletes and we have skilled guys, but we have to establish some dominance early and if we don't we're in trouble," said Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw. "We didn't bring the pressure like we wanted to early, and you can't just put on flashes when your down by 10 or 12 already."