Elk Grove stuns Palatine in OT
The outlook wasn't bright for Elk Grove in the closing seconds of its overtime Mid-Suburban League boys basketball crossover with visiting Palatine on Tuesday night.
But the Grenadiers (6-21) scored 4 points in the final 2.3 seconds and pulled out a dramatic 67-66 victory on Austin Amann's layup off an inbound pass at the buzzer.
Palatine (9-17) set up its defense to prevent a tying 3-pointer and Elk Grove's Anthony Jimenez went in for a layup with 2.3 seconds left.
Elk Grove forced a five-second violation and Amann got free for the game-winner on a baseline inbound from Justin Flores.
John Lorenz scored all 21 of his points after halftime as Elk Grove rallied from a 13-point deficit. Sophomore Devin Neill scored 13 points before fouling out and junior Jeff Miceli added 12 points and hit a pair of big tying free throws in regulation.
"He played his butt off," said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman. "He guarded (Peter) Bony and (John) Millin and he did whatever he could. He kind of took a step forward for us. Devin played a really good game."
Palatine got 18 points from Millin and Bony (11 points) hit a shot in the final seconds of regulation to force overtime. Egan Malley added 12 points.
Hoffman 42, Meadows 40: Retiring Hoffman coach Bill Wandro got his final regular-season victory by the same margin against the same team he won his first game against in 1991.
The Hawks (6-19) took the lead for good 3:43 before halftime. They led 33-19 late in the third quarter and held on as Eric Saubert (8 points) hit a key free throw in the final seconds for a 42-38 lead.
Meadows (14-12) got a layup from Paul Volkman (20 points) but was out of timeouts and Hoffman didn't have to inbound the ball as time expired.
Austin Terry led the Hawks with 15 points and Matt Pahl had 8 points and two 3s. Saubert, Brian Cvitkovich and Anthony Christianson had 6 rebounds apiece in their team's 37-24 advantage.
Tyler Gaedele added 11 points for Meadows.
Schaumburg 63, Wheeling 53: Jimmy Lundquist scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures as Schaumburg (14-11) avenged an earlier loss and assured itself of an 18th consecutive winning season.
Christian Spandiary scored 16 points and Javon McDonald and Kurt Kempema added 11 apiece for the Saxons.
"They turned the screws up defensively and we didn't handle their pressure very well," said Wheeling coach John Clancy of his team's 22 turnovers. "Our effort and energy as always were there but we have some things we need to clean up."
Ricky Schwind scored 14 points and Tyler Shapiro added 12 before fouling out for Wheeling (7-19).
Hersey 64, Fremd 58: Justin Jobski scored 18 points to lead three players in double figures as Hersey (15-11) gave coach Steve Messer his 200th career victory.
Sean Reszotko had 15 points, Tom Sutrinaitis scored 13 and Connor Miklasz added nine. Zach Monaghan scored 26 points and hit three 3s and Quinton Brown added 17 for Fremd (17-9).
Maine West 62, Glenbrook South 52: Conor Hart scored a game-high 20 points as Maine West (16-10) rallied from a 1-point halftime deficit to win the Central Suburban League crossover at the Titan Dome.
Odera Eneogwe scored 14 points and Kevin Garcia added 10 points for the Warriors. Corey McMahon (11 points) and Jack Ryan (8 points) returned from injuries as Glenbrook South (8-18) lost its seventh straight and 12th in its last 13 games.