Boys basketball: Yorkville’s comeback comes up short, falls to Palatine in Tosh quarterfinals

ELMHURST – The word compose is defined in Websters dictionary as to bring a condition of calmness.

Composure was the word for Palatine’s basketball team Thursday night at the 49th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic.

The Pirates played a rugged Yorkville team and came out on top 62-54 in a quarterfinal contest.

Palatine will now play Bolingbrook at 8 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Yorkville will play York at 7:30 p.m. in the consolation bracket.

“We had some new faces to varsity basketball this year,” Palatine coach Eric Millstone said. “The skill concept is there, but you wonder if the composure part is there. Since the tournament started, we have kids who have acquitted themselves well in the composure category.”

Case in point.

Leading 37-25 with six minutes left in the third quarter on Connor May’s 3-point basket, the Foxes (8-6) went on a 9-0 run to close to within 37-34 on Bryce Salek’s basket.

Millstone called a time to right the ship.

Palatine (12-3) went on its own 9-0 run and finished the quarter ahead 46-37.

Trailing 52-40 with 5:24 left in the game, Yorkville used a 7-0 spurt keyed by Salek’s five points and a basket by Jason Jakstys to close within 52-47.

Palatine hit 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch to keep the Foxes at bay.

“We were down 10 at halftime and dug ourselves a hole that we had to dig out of,” Yorkville coach John Holakovsky said. “We made two really good runs but then one bad thing happened and it snowballed to three or four things and they used that to build the score back up. They did a lot of things right that made it difficult for us.”

Junior Carter Monroe hit three three-point baskets in the third quarter and finished with 19 points to go with three assists. He only took two shots in the first half making one.

“Early in the game they were up on me with their defense,” Monroe said. “I had to keep my composure and my teammates told me to stay confident and to shoot the ball when I had the shot. Connor (May) gets a lot of attention and because of that the others can get involved.”

“Everyone contributed to this win in some way,” said May, who led the team with 21 points. “We’re a whole team and we emphasize that on offense. Our ball reversal always seems to open someone up. Our game from start to finish is toughness.”

Tommy Elter, while only scoring two points, had 11 assists and three of Palatine’s 10 steals. Sophomore center Tony Balanganayi added 11 points. Darrin Dick scored nine points on 3 three-pointers.

Jakstys had a strong game with 24 points and seven rebounds. The Illinois recruit shot 10 of 13 from the field. Salek scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half. Kaevian Johnson scored nine points and Dayvion Johnson seven points.

“We shot well from the field (18 for 43),” Holakovsky. “But we turned the ball over 15 times, some of them in crucial times, and it’s hard to win when that happens.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20231228/boys-basketball/palatine-stays-calm-advances-to-tosh-semifinals/