Boys basketball: Stevenson’s second-half surge pushes Patriots past Schaumburg
Friday was an Institute Day at Stevenson, meaning its students got to wake up at the crack of noon and then do whatever they felt like doing.
Junior hoopster Rocco Pagliocca took jump shots — outside, in his backyard.
“Windy day,” the guard recalled Friday night. “Really gusty. But my shots were falling.”
They dropped through twine inside, too, in considerably calmer conditions during Stevenson’s 53-45 defeat of Schaumburg in the Class 4A Stevenson boys basketball regional final.
The third-seeded Patriots’ sixth regional title in seven seasons advanced them to face second-seeded Rolling Meadows — a 53-40 winner over seventh-seeded Palatine in Friday’s RM regional final — in a Schaumburg sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Pagliocca scored a team-high 15 points Friday night, including a twisting 2 on a home crowd-pleasing reverse layup that opened the scoring in the fourth quarter and highlighted the Patriots’ game-turning 26-8 run that bridged the final two frames.
The young man with the boxer-esque name had set a relentless here-I-come tone in the first minute of game, drawing a foul while dribbling hard to the basket and making the two ensuing free throws.
“I’m competitive, no matter what,” said Pagliocca, who has never had an aversion to skidding his frame along hardwood to either secure a loose ball or nudge it to a teammate.
“I want to win so badly.”
Stevenson (22-10) threatened to win quite easily in Lincolnshire, scoring the first 7 points in just 2 minutes. But sixth-seeded Schaumburg (22-11) — guided by former Stevenson assistant coach Jason Tucker — produced a 24-10 spurt that began at the 5:13 mark of the first quarter and ended at 1:49 of the second quarter on a trey by senior guard Jordan Tunis (game-high 16 points).
The Saxons fell only 40 seconds shy of blanking the hosts in the second quarter and led 24-21 at the break. Patriots senior guard Aidan Bardic (12 points) halted the drought with a layup and stole a pass shortly thereafter, preceding a Pagliocca layup with only 9 seconds left in the half.
“We guarded,” Tucker said of what helped his club make a game of it in the second quarter.
“Our fight kept us in it against a very good Stevenson team, against a prestigious program. It’s hard to get to a regional final, especially in 4A.”
Stevenson junior guard Donny Williams had another fine game, sinking a pair of triples en route to 13 points. His three-pointer early in the third quarter put Stevenson up 28-26 and his 2 free throws capped the Pats’ 8-0 stretch at the outset of the fourth quarter, expanding the advantage to 47-32 with 3:39 remaining.
“Second half,” Pagliocca said, “we came together and kept finding teammates.”
Teammate Atticus Richmond (5 points, game-high 8 rebounds) didn’t score his first points until 1:55 of the third quarter, but the post player’s baseline-to-baseline energy, combined with his head-turning assist to Bardic while sitting on the floor, had invigorated the co-North Suburban Conference champions throughout most of the third quarter.
“Our defense was awesome,” said Stevenson coach Will Benson. “Yes, we scored only four points there in the second quarter, but the shots we took were good ones. We didn’t play our best game, but we certainly competed.
“It’s hard to win a regional,” added the Pats’ second-year coach who’s now 2-for-2 in regional championship games at Stevenson.
Liam Curtin contributed 6 points and 4 boards for the victors, while Schaumburg received a 9-point, 6-rebound night from 6-foot-8 senior Zion Young and 7 points from 6-6 junior Cam Anderson.