Bolger, Schaumburg better Barrington

Late in the game, there is no one Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh would rather have on the free-throw line than Kyle Bolger.

After the Saxons’ 8-point fourth-quarter lead had been whittled down to one with eight seconds left, Bolger got the opportunity to justify that statement, and he came through with 2 huge free throws to help visiting Schaumburg hold off Barrington 49-46 in Friday night’s showdown of Mid-Suburban West leaders.

“My teammates have a lot of confidence in me, and I really appreciate that,” Bolger said. “They got me the ball.”

Barrington (12-7, 4-2) had a chance to go ahead with 15 seconds left but couldn’t convert two shots in the lane. And after Bolger extended the lead to 3, the Broncos still had one last chance to tie the game up but Mark Bennett’s fadeaway 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short.

Schaumburg (14-4, 5-1) took a one-game lead in the West as it was able to avoid a repeat of the teams’ first meeting of the year when Brad Zaumseil’s buzzer-beater sunk the Saxons. Those late game heroics didn’t go unforgotten as Schaumburg won for the eighth time in nine tries since that loss.

“We wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to happen again,” Bolger said. “We stuck to playing defense.”

It was fitting that Bolger put the game on ice since he controlled nearly every other aspect of it.

On top of scoring 13 points, the junior point guard dished out 6 assists, routinely finding Christian Spandiary (game-high 17 points) and Jimmy Lundquist (10 points) for 3s. Bolger pulled down a team-high 5 rebounds, and when needed, was able to generate his own offense by getting to the basket.

“He’s such a tough-minded, determined kid,” Walsh said. “He does so much for a basketball team that may go unseen to the naked eye.”

Barrington took its biggest lead at 35-30 when Scott Nelson took a rebound the length of the court for a layup with 1:56 left in the third quarter.

But Schaumburg went on a 17-4 tear over the next five minutes. Bobby Greene started the run with a 3-pointer and Lundquist’s 3 with 7:15 left gave the Saxons their first lead since the second quarter. Bolger capped the run, putting Schaumburg up 47-39 with 4:36 left.

“We have a veteran, experienced group that understands that there are going to be runs in a game,” Walsh said. “We didn’t panic and continued to believe in our system.”

Zaumseil, however, responded with a 3 on the next possession, and later found Bennett on a cut to the basket to bring Barrington to within 47-46 with 37 seconds left.

“We didn’t hit the shot that we needed, the timely shot,” said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. “We felt like we had some stretches earlier in the game where we put ourselves in a bad spot, especially in the fourth quarter when they came out and executed and our defense really broke down.”

Zaumseil, Bennett and senior John Schneider each finished with 11 points to lead Barrington.