BBK: Marcos hang on to beat Aquin

POLO – If Polo was going to remain a factor in the NUIC East boys basketball race, it needed to hold serve against Aquin.

The Marcos did just that – barely.

Polo needed to withstand a narrow half-court miss from the Bulldogs’ Aiden Chang to preserve a 52-51 victory on Tuesday night before a big crowd in Polo.

“That’s what you’ve got to do in our conference this year, you’ve got to hold your home court,” Polo coach Matt Messer said. “Now that puts us right back in the thick of it. I’m just proud of the way the kids battled. I thought tonight our energy and effort was great. No matter who we called upon to come into the game, they gave us all they had.”

The win avenged a 58-52 loss in Freeport back on Jan. 10, something that’s been on the Marcos’ minds.

“It feels great,” junior guard Brad Cavanaugh said. “We’ve been working hard ever since our loss to them.”

Polo trailed by eight points (42-34) through three quarters, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Matthew Handel and Richie Bartnick drew the Marcos even at 44 with just under 5 minutes to play.

The teams traded baskets over the next 4 minutes, and the Marcos’ Max Simmons hit the second of two free throws with 47.3 seconds to go to put his team up 49-48.

Aquin (15-6, 5-2) took its last lead at 51-49 when freshman guard Jonah Diemer hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 27 seconds to go.

After Polo (16-6, 5-2) called timeout with 14.8 seconds left, the Marcos worked the ball around until it was in Cavanaugh’s hands on the right wing. With an Aquin defender closing in fast, he dumped the ball inside to Wyatt Patterson, who had a clear path to the basket.

The 6-foot-4 Patterson went hard to the basket, laid it in, and was fouled by the Bulldogs’ Diemer on the play for a potential and-one.

The go-ahead free throw, however, hit hard off the back iron. Cavanaugh, on the right side, soared into the lane for the rebound, veered to the right, and was fouled by Aquin’s Rian Borgmann, resulting in two shots.

With 1.8 seconds on the clock, Cavanaugh dropped in the first shot, but missed the second.

“I made one,” Cavanaugh said with a smile, “and luckily that was good enough.”

Borgmann nabbed the rebound with 1.1 seconds to go.

With that small amount of time left and options limited, the Bulldogs still got a decent look. Micah Stovall threw a baseball-style pass to Chang, who caught the ball on the run just short of mid-court.

He took one dribble and let it fly from atop the Marco logo at midcourt. It was on line, but clanged off the front of the rim, setting off a wild Polo celebration.

“When I let go of it, it felt short,” Chang said, “but it felt on line too, and that’s what it ended up being. That’s a hard one, but it shouldn’t have come down to that. If I put a little more oomph on it, I think it goes in, and we’re a little bit happier in here.”

Junior forward Krisean Coffee led the Bulldogs with 17 points and seven rebounds, Chang had 12 points, and Diemer added nine.

Simmons and Patterson each tossed in 15 points to lead Polo, and Simmons also grabbed eight rebounds.

“Coming into the fourth quarter, I told the kids, ‘It’s not about X’s and O’s, it’s who wants it more,’” Messer said. “I thought our kids showed their true toughness tonight.”