Downers Grove South edged out by late bucket

ELMHURST – Tony Balanganayi and Palatine didn’t let their struggles faze them Thursday in the opening round of the 50th Jack Tosh tournament at York in Elmhurst.

Balanganayi was double teamed the entire game. But the junior was undetered and fought his way for an offensive rebound and then a putback basket to give the Pirates a 36-35 win over Downers Grove South.

Palatine (7-4), which finished fourth in the Tosh tournament last year, will play defending tournament champion Metamora (10-2), which beat Wheaton North in double overtime, at 4 p.m. Friday.

Palatine coach Eric Millstone said that Balanganayi, who is a D-1 football recruit, was able to battle through the Downers Grove South pressure.

“Tony earned everything he got,” Millstone said. “He wasn’t making any highlight reel plays. He was did it in brute, grown-man strength. The kid is as coachable as the day is long. He is a great teammate and he is just a workhorse. You like to see kids like that get rewarded.”

Balanganayi’s basket with 18.6 seconds left came off a rebound as teammate Carter Monroe’s layup in traffic came up a bit short. But Monroe was not very worried.

“I knew we had him (Balanganayi) down there,” Monroe said. “And if I don’t put it in, he is ready to go and grab it and put it in.”

Balanganayi said he saw the miss and knew he had to go strong.

“We played physical today,” said Balanganayi, who had 13 points and 10 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end.

“That last basket was a real good finish. I was right behind him.”

Balanganayi’s rebound basket was only Palatine’s second lead of the game. The other was when the Pirates scored the game’s first basket. That lead only lasted only 22 seconds.

Downers South was hoping to reverse those Palatine fortunes again in the final 18 seconds. But the Mustangs missed a pair of three-point shots.

“After Christmas sometimes there is going to be some jet lag,” Downers Grove South coach Zach Miller said. “I thought our guys got some good looks and played with a lot of effort. I thought we did some uncharacteristic things in the fourth quarter and in the later part of the third quarter.”

They combined for 22% shooting (9-of-41) and turned the ball over 9 times in the first 11-1/2 minutes as the Mustangs led just 7-5.

Downers Grove South (5-4) then found its game behind Wyatt Wawro (13 points), Adam Flowers (11 points) and Joe Grippo as the Mustangs shot to a 19-10 halftime advantage. Downers South then scored the first two baskets in the first minute of the second half to lead 23-10.

Palatine, which found its footing last year in the Tosh tournament which led to a MSL championship and a fourth-place finish in the state 4A tournament, began to get grounded again.The Pirates quickly cut the lead to 23-15.

After a three-pointer by Flowers made it 26-15 with 3:16 left in the third quarter, Palatine’s defense really went to work. They forced 5 turnovers and held the Mustangs to 0-of-10 shooting to close out the quarter.

Meanwhile, Abram Williams (10 points), Kasey May and Monroe all scored baskets. Balanganayi then had another offensive rebound that he turned into a basket and suddenly it was 26-23 after three quarters.

Downers South stretched the lead to 32-25 and led 35-29 with 2:59 to play on a three-pointer by Wawro. But those were last points by the Mustangs.

Andy Iliopoulos had a basket and Brady May drilled a huge three-pointer, the only triple that the Pirates would get, as Palatine closed to 35-34 with 1:12 to play.

Neither team would score until Balanganayi’s basket that was the game-winner.

“It was just a good old fashioned rock fight for awhile,” Millstone said. “Someone had to win it. Credit to our guys for sticking around and showing enough grit to make a couple plays when we needed to.”