Lake Forest steals potential big win from Palatine

Palatine was in position for a shot at a victory Saturday night which would emphasize the resurgence of its boys basketball program.

Then Lake Forest senior and scoring leader Mitch Hopfinger, who had been taken out of the offensive equation for most of the second half, stepped in and took away those hopes from the Pirates.

Hopfinger's midcourt steal and layup with nine seconds left gave the defending North Suburban Conference champion Scouts a 48-46 nonconference victory at Palatine.

"Great players make great plays at the end of games," said Lake Forest coach Phil LaScala of his 22-point averager.

"My guy was back in the corner and when he (Michael Orris) turned his back, I saw I could get the ball and try to make a play," Hopfinger said after scoring 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting.

The Pirates (5-6), who were 4-22 last year, were holding for the final shot of regulation after Hopfinger's lane drive at 1:02 tied it at 46-46.

But the NSC Lake-leading Scouts (7-2) escaped with their fourth straight narrow victory - their second by 2 points after two in overtime - when Jake Velinski's 3-pointer at the horn was on line but rimmed out.

"I knew going into the game it was going to be a war," LaScala said of a Palatine team the Scouts beat 64-29 last year.

Especially with Velinski and Nat Pearson on Hopfinger, who was the Scouts' No. 2 scorer last year at 14 points a game behind current Michigan reserve Matt Vogrich.

"They had done a great job on me and it was tough to do anything with their (trapping) defense," Hopfinger said of missing 5 of his first 6 shots after halftime.

"Jake has done a nice job this year guarding the other team's top scorer," said second-year Palatine coach Eric Millstone. "Nat gave him a little more of a physical look (the last 10 minutes). Between the two of them I thought they did a nice job."

Palatine overcame shooting just 5-for-23 on 3s and to rally from deficits of 33-24 and 41-36 as Orris and Mykyta Cheshko had 11 points apiece.

Pearson's 3-point play off a miss started an 8-point run and the Pirates led 44-41 on 2 free throws by Velinski at 3:23. Tommy Durrett hit a tying 3 at 2:21 after a turnover and Pearson's spinning drive at 1:22 gave Palatine its last lead.

"Now we have to get to that next level and win games against good teams," Millstone said. "The kids have done a good job of reaching the next level but I know they're not content with being at that level."