Fremd survives Palatine’s upset bid
The cross-town rivalry made for a sectional-final type atmosphere even though it was only a Class 4A regional quarterfinal when Fremd visited Palatine on Monday night.
The 20th-seeded Pirates cranked up the decibel levels by scoring the first 11 points and hitting 7 of their first 8 shots. Then the 13th-seeded Vikings cranked up their defense to build a 7-point fourth-quarter lead.
Palatine took one last run at an upset but Fremd held on for a 50-48 victory.
“We’ve been in that situation before,” said Fremd senior guard Matt Wisniewski, who scored 7 points and sparked the defensive turnaround off the bench with Mitch Dinterman. “It’s the playoffs and we knew Palatine would be ready. You know anything can happen.”
Fremd (16-11) survived 7 fourth-quarter turnovers and missing the front end of three 1-and-1s in the last 4:17 to advance to today’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal against No. 4 Waukegan (15-10).
And they weathered the early storm where Palatine (3-24) freshman Roosevelt Smart (14 points) and senior John Millin hit 3-pointers. Josh Baldus got a 3-point play and Austin Marrison and Greg Grana each scored twice for a 17-6 lead with just 4:35 gone.
Tom Hauert also drew 3 charging fouls in the first 11:07 to help put Fremd guards Riley Glassmann (13 points) and Garrett Peters and swingman Sean Benka in foul trouble.
But Wisniewski helped the Vikings get within 25-23 at halftime as Palatine committed 14 of its 19 turnovers.
“It starts with defense and once they scored 17 points, from then on we played good defense the rest of the game,” Glassmann said.
“When the guys got in foul trouble I knew I had to step up defensively,” Wisniewski said.
Glassmann scored 6 straight points to give Fremd its first lead at 31-30. Six-5 sophomore Ben Carlson scored all 6 of his points in a 10-2 burst for a 43-36 lead with 7:33 to play.
“Dinterman and Wisniewski did a great job off the bench in critical minutes,” said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. “Ben Carlson really gave us a lift at both ends of the floor and played well at key times.”
But Palatine refused to go quietly as Millin’s tough drive cut the deficit to 46-45 with 1:05 left. After a missed free throw, Smart’s 3 from the top of the key rattled in and out with 33 seconds left.
Adam Gorecki (12 points, 6 rebounds) hit 2 free throws at 0:31. Wisniewski’s steal prevented a chance to tie and Peters and Glassmann each hit a free throw to make it 50-45 with 5.6 seconds left.
Palatine missed 11 second-half 3s until Smart set the final score with 0.3 seconds left.
“They showed a lot of fight coming back and we showed a lot of fight coming back,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. “I’m proud of our kids because they’re going to play the right way and finish out the season the right way because that’s who they are.”