Palatine tops Round Lake
There was a simple explanation for how Palatine was able to turn Saturday afternoon’s nonconference boys basketball game into a 64-28 victory over visiting Round Lake.
The Pirates’ (9-13) trapping man-to-man pressure defense led to 26 points off 25 turnovers by Round Lake (5-14).
“We’ve been preaching all year how defense can generate offense for you,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone after his team completed a weekend sweep with a Friday win over Hoffman Estates.
“We haven’t been getting stops lately,” said Palatine senior Egan Malley, who came off the bench to score a game-high 15 points. “It helped a lot with us getting stops. It was a good weekend.”
John Millin scored 11 points and had 8 rebounds of the Pirates’ 33-23 advantage. Austin Marrison added 9 points and helped limit dangerous Round Lake guard Juddon Carter to 2 points on 1-for-11 shooting from the field and seven missed 3-pointers.
Round Lake shot 26.1 percent from the field (12-for-46) and was 1-for-12 behind the arc as Palatine earned its biggest victory margin since it beat Wheeling 68-25 in a 1998 regional opener.
A 20-point run that lasted 7:39 and bridged the first two quarters gave Palatine a 24-4 lead. Malley scored the final 7 points and senior Peter Bony scored 4 of his 6 points in a tear where Round Lake committed 8 turnovers.
“We were ready for a zone and they come out and start pressing,” said first-year Round Lake coach Jim Roberts. “They played physical, they were trapping us and it takes a couple of possessions to respond to it.
“When we did handle it we didn’t knock down shots. We’re hanging in and hanging in … but it becomes defeating for our kids.”
Nick Lange, the only senior for the Panthers who sees extensive playing time, scored 6 points and had 7 rebounds.
“Palatine plays like an MSL (Mid-Suburban League) team,” Roberts said. “They’re tough, strong, well-coached and they understand what they’re trying to do. Hopefully our kids learn from it.”
Grayslake Central 52, Prairie Ridge 42: C.J. Stempeck scored 15 points and Jordan Taylor added 12, as the host Rams won the Fox Valley Fox Division game.
Grayslake Central (11-9, 6-2) outscored Prairie Ridge 13-4 in the second quarter to lead 22-12 at halftime.
Grayslake Central has a makeup game at Grayslake North on Monday (7 p.m.).
Hersey 53, Lake Zurich 49: Mirko Grcic scored 14 points for the Bears in the nonconference road loss.
Drake Orser added 8 points for Lake Zurich.
McHenry 56, Wauconda 40: Kyle Ryan, who had missed the last three games with an injury, scored 9 points to lead the Bulldogs in their nonconference loss.
Wauconda fell to 6-17.