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Buffalo Grove stuns Schaumburg

Buffalo Grove's 64-52 Mid-Suburban League crossover boys basketball win Tuesday night was a combination of three things.

Kam Craft's scoring, Nathan Cole's fourth-quarter effort and Tom Trieb's determination helped the host Bison cash the winning trifecta ticket.

"Our guys just grinded this one out," said Buffalo Grove coach Keith Peterson. "Our execution in the fourth quarter was just great. The way we used the ball and spread it out, it think that might have tired Schaumburg out."

Craft, who led Buffalo Grove (10-7) with 30 points, scored 23 points in the first half, keeping the Bison afloat leading 33-26 at the halftime break.

"Tom Trieb was making sure that the others players new that Kam was hot and got him the ball," said Peterson. "He picks up on those things."

Trieb adjusted his game to passing the ball to the open man. He had 6 assists 10 rebounds and forced 4 turnovers after misfiring on his first few shots.

"I found other things on the court that I can do," said Trieb. " I boxed out well and tried to keep their big men from getting in the paint to pick up offensive rebounds. We knew that they had good outside shooters. We wanted to take that away and give them the mid-range shots."

Cole, who scored 15 points, tallied 11 of those in the fourth quarter when the Saxons (12-5) pulled to within 42-37 with 7:19 left in the game.

The Bison went on a 14-6 run to lead 56-43 with 2:32 left in the game. Cole scored the last two baskets with assists from Trieb and Craft.

"When we play like we did today in the fourth quarter we can be a hard team to beat," said Cole. "We also started out the game well. We're a good passing team and when we do that we're pretty good. I think our zone slowed them down. When we got the rebounds and turnovers we pushed the ball and got some layups"

The Saxons won the rebounding battle 32-27 with Heze Trotter, who scored 18 points, and Mike Hodges (13) each getting 7 boards. Chris Hodges scored 11 points for Schaumburg.

"Kraft just torched us in the first half," said Saxons coach Wade Heisler. " We hang our hat on defense and I think that carried over to our offense. Buffalo Grove played well. We were a step slow from the tip off and finished the same way."

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