Confident Saxons keep on rolling in 4A sectional semi

Schaumburg knew it had to lead with one of the key state tournament upset ingredients in Wednesday night's Waukegan Class 4A sectional semifinal.

Scoring 17 of 21 first-quarter points gave the 13th-seeded Saxons the initial boost they needed against second-seed Deerfield.

Then Schaumburg followed with everything else it needed. Unselfishness to get quality shots, solid man-to-man defense to force tough ones, rebounding and handling pressure.

It all led to the Saxons never trailing and keeping a double-figure lead the entire fourth quarter as their surprising postseason run continued with a 58-48 victory at Waukegan's Dog Pound.

"We came out confident," said sophomore Christian Spandiary, who had 11 points and 6 rebounds off the bench as the Saxons won their eighth straight sectional semifinal game and 11th in 13 tries.

"I don't think many people expected us to be in a sectional final game Friday night," said first-year Schaumburg coach Matt Walsh after his team's fifth straight win. "But our entire program, coaches and players, did."

So after knocking off No. 3 Fremd (24-2) in the regional and No. 2 Deerfield (25-4), the Saxons (17-11) get their shot at No. 1 Waukegan (24-4) and Jereme Richmond at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

They would take another start where they hit 7-of-11 shots with 6 assists en route to a 17-4 lead after eight minutes.

"I don't think they expected us to come out that fast," said Schaumburg junior Javon McDonald after scoring half of his team-high 16 points and hitting two of his four 3-pointers in the first 5:18. "We had to. We're the lower seed with something to prove."

Schaumburg 6-foot-6 senior Chris Baker (6 points, 12 rebounds) doubled his scoring average with 2 baskets in the first 3:14.

Spandiary got a layup on a backcut feed from McDonald and junior Mark Bielanski came off the bench to hit a 3 on one of 3 first-quarter assists from Declan Geraghty (13 points, 4 assists).

"That was huge," Spandiary said.

"We had to start out hot and the momentum kept on throughout the game."

Deerfield senior Duje Dukan tried to break it with 10 of his game-high 22 points in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 23-18. But McDonald answered with a 23-footer just before halftime.

Geraghty and Kurt Kempema got plenty of backside defensive help when the 6-8 Dukan (11 rebounds) went inside. The Wisconsin recruit finished 7-for-16 from the floor as Deerfield shot 31.1 percent (14-for-45) and 4-for-19 on 3-pointers.

"We couldn't do anything right tonight and give Schaumburg credit for that," said Deerfield coach Bret Just.

"We missed a lot of open shots. Our (defensive) pressure got us nothing and actually hurt us."

A Ryan Davis (8 points) drive got Deerfield within 26-20, but Geraghty hit a pull-up jumper and Joe Infusino hit a 3 off a transition feed from Bielanski to make it 31-20.

Schaumburg's lead never dropped below 9 points as it shot 50 percent (19-for-38), had a 29-25 rebound advantage and committed only 3 of its 13 turnovers the last 101/2 minutes.

"It's a simple formula - defend like crazy, rebound the basketball, take care of the ball and get quality shots," Walsh said. "And just play harder and more together than everyone else we play."