Waukegan simply overwhelming in win over Saxons

Waukegan's boys basketball team attacks in waves.

So after senior Mike Springs kissed the Bulldogs' home floor following their 72-54 win over Schaumburg in the teams' Class 4A sectional final at the "Dog Pound" Friday night, teammate Jereme Richmond followed by planting a smooch of his own at center court.

"It was just a good way to go out and show our love for Waukegan," said Richmond, who kissed the floor in the vicinity of his dramatic, buzzer-beating half-court shot that stunned Warren in last year's sectional final.

The Bulldogs showed Schaumburg no love, refusing to take lightly a team that was seeded 13th in the sectional and had to win a play-in game just to earn a regional-semifinal berth.

While Waukegan, the state's top-ranked team, improved to 25-4 and advanced to Tuesday night's Elgin supersectional against Bartlett (18-11), a surprising 59-57 overtime winner over host Rockford Boylan, Schaumburg ended its season at 17-12.

"I am so proud of our guys," Saxons coach Matt Walsh said. "They never stopped. There was no quit in them. We certainly all have our heads held up high."

"We knew Schaumburg wasn't going to lay down," Waukegan sophomore Akeem Springs said. "Schaumburg is known for being a tough team and they've beaten a lot of good teams. They'd already played the No. 2 seed (Deerfield) and the No. 3 seed (Fremd) so we were prepared for them to come out hard."

If the Illinois-bound Richmond and Quan Connor are Waukegan's 1-2 punch, the Springs cousins are the Bulldogs' 2-3 punch - as in jersey No. 2 (Akeem) and No. 3 (Mike).

The two Springs scored a combined 32 points, with Akeem pouring in a game-high 17. Richmond had 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Connor posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.

Mike Springs, whose senior season has included becoming Waukegan's all-time leader in assists and steals, had 15 points and 4 steals.

"My offense starts with my defense," he said. "I knew if I could give my team a little bit more help on the defensive side, our offense would roll even smoother."

Despite trailing 10-3 in the first quarter, Schaumburg found itself within 25-19 after Glenn Frost's baseline drive and layup with 2:07 left before halftime. But Connor found a streaking Akeem Springs for a driving layup and foul, and the 3-point play began an 11-0 run to end the half.

"We gave them too many open layups," Schaumburg senior Declan Geraghty said. "They got out and ran and we didn't keep up with them, and our matchups weren't very good. The run killed us going into the half. Just being down to a team like that, it's hard to come back."

Waukegan stretched its lead to 40-21 with two minutes gone in the second half. The Saxons reeled off 5 straight points, but a putback by Akeem Springs following a Waukegan timeout ended any thoughts of a Schaumburg comeback.

"I thought we did a good job of maintaining our composure, and we continued to build the lead," Akeem Springs said.

"They're such an explosive team," Walsh said. "We needed to make it a scrap, claw, fight game, and we did it for a long time."

Javon McDonald, who before the game earned a berth downstate in the 3-point contest, led Schaumburg with 16 points, including a trio of 3-pointers. Geraghty added 14 points and 6 rebounds, and Chris Baker pulled down 9 rebounds.

But Waukegan won the board battle 40-25.

"I think it's hard for anybody to practice our tempo," Mike Springs said.

"I think they prepared a lot and they played a really good game, but I think we were more ready and more prepared."