Boys Basketball: Kurt Palandech comes through in clutch for Plainfield North

Updated: December 14, 2011 10:29PM

Plainfield North’s Kurt Palandech’s driving layup with eight seconds left made a winner of the host Tigers, who beat Lincoln-Way North 52-51 Wednesday in the Plainfield North Holiday Round Robin.

“I caught it, and I noticed there were [10 seconds] left so I knew I had to get it and go,” said Palandech. “[Teammate] Matt Fenza was in front of me. We had the numbers so I just took it. I figured it would be the last shot. I saw an opening and I just took it.”

The 6-2 junior guard scored a team-high 15 for the Tigers (3-7), who saw their 50-46 lead fade in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. The Phoenix (2-7) cut the margin to 50-49 on a three-pointer by junior forward Daryle Morgan (15 points). North’s Cody Murphy (game-high 17) tipped in a basket with 15 seconds remaining that gave the Phoenix a 51-50 lead.

At that point, it was decision time for Plainfield North coach Nick DiForti.

“We had the ball, but we didn’t expect to take a shot there [with 41 seconds left], and then they brought it down and scored the basket,” DiForti said. “Then that’s the time when a coach decides whether to call a timeout. If they call a timeout, they have an opportunity to set something up. If we call a timeout, we have an opportunity to set something up. We had been doing a very good job of just pushing it. We were hoping to get an easy bucket. It was a roll of the dice.”

Lincoln-Way North coach John Terry knew what he wanted his team to do after the Murphy tip-in.

“At the time out [with 40 seconds to go], I said ‘Guys, if we score, you sprint back on defense.’ What happened was we scored and we got into our press and didn’t sprint back on defense and none of my guys stopped the ball. And that was a problem for us from the tip-off.”

The Phoenix fell behind 6-0, but they rallied to cut the deficit to 13-12 after one quarter. Morgan, who missed his first six shots, came alive in the second quarter by scoring 10 points in a 2 1/2-minute stretch to give Lincoln-Way North a 24-18 lead. The Phoenix led 27-23 at halftime. Lincoln-Way North led 40-37 after three quarters before the Tigers opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 44-40 lead with 5:06 to play.

“We would get a four- or six-point lead, and they would chip it right back down. They would take a lead by three or four and we came right back at them,” DiForti said. “That was pretty much how it went all game. It was a well-fought battle. They are well-coached. They run their stuff very well. In the end, it was going to be a toss-up of who won.”

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