Painful ending for Schaumburg's Payne
Schaumburg senior boys basketball star Cully Payne received painful news about his back injury Friday morning.
Results of an MRI performed Wednesday revealed a pair of stress fractures in his L3 vertebrae had not sufficiently healed. Payne, who has signed with Alabama, was told by his doctor it would be at least four more weeks before he could play, which would be after the Class 4A state finals in Peoria.
"It stings a little bit," Payne said during the postgame celebration of a 50-46 win over Hoffman Estates that gave the Saxons a share of the Mid-Suburban West title and the berth in Wednesday's MSL championship game at Prospect. "But they played well tonight."
On Saturday night, after Schaumburg beat Glenbrook South 54-40, Payne was hopeful he might be able to play in tonight's Mid-Suburban West showdown with rival Hoffman Estates. He said his back has been feeling a lot better but was advised not to risk taking a chance.
"The one I feel bad for is Cully," said Schaumburg coach Bob Williams. "This has been his dream since he was a little kid (to play in big games). He grew up wanting to do this and that's hard on a guy."
The 6-foot-1 guard started to have back trouble in December. In his last game he scored 13 points in a 62-52 loss to Fremd on Jan. 9.
The first of eight games Payne has been sidelined was the Saxons' 61-51 win at Hoffman Estates on Jan. 15. He was averaging 22.3 points a game with 42 3-pointers and the Saxons were 14-2 with him on the court.
But the Saxons are now 6-3 without him after Friday night's win. The shock of the news early Friday was replaced by not being in awe of what needed to be done.
"It's like coach says every day, we play with who we have on the team right now," said senior guard Chris Kelly, who had 9 points, 3 assists and the key deflection that led to a turnover as Hoffman tried to tie or win the game in the final seconds.
The good news for the 20-5 Saxons is they are now 4-0 since 6-5 senior and third-year varsity starter Blake Mueller returned from a torn ACL in his right knee. Mueller had 10 points and 10 rebounds against Hoffman.
"Before every game when Cully was out and when I was out, too," Mueller said, "coach said, 'Don't look at who we have and don't have. We know everyone is here to play and that's what we do.'"
Mueller is grateful for opportunities to play in big games such as Friday, Wednesday at Prospect and then in the state tournament.
"Every second on the floor is big for me," Mueller said. "I'm so glad to be back and this was a huge win for us.
"I'm definitely closer, continuing to get a lot better and starting to play harder inside. I'm a lot more comfortable. I was a little shaky the first couple of games but I'm starting to get back in rhythm."