May’s Big Shot Sends Palatine To State

Connor May of Palatine stands out in the Pirates big win against Warren. (Photo by Rusty Silber)

Connor May has a knack for big moments in the postseason. For the second straight game, the senior stepped forward to lead Palatine to another big victory.

May hit a big shot on a short jumper — the game-winning one — with 1.4 seconds left that gave Palatine a 55-53 win over Warren in the Class 4A DeKalb super-sectional at the Convocation Center on the campus of Northern Illinois University Monday (March 4).

May also led the Pirates with a game-high 21 points and 13 rebounds.

“This is unbelievable!” May said. “We work every day for hours. We knew that we had a shot coming in. We knew that every possession matters. We value the basketball on both offense and defense, and we got the job done. The last one was for me. We worked on that play all week. We knew that we needed that in a clutch moment and our coach (Eric Millstone), he always knows what to do when to do it…credit to the guys that executed the play.”

Palatine (28-8) keeps setting another record with each victory and will be taking another step forward to the IHSA’s final four for the first time this weekend in Champaign.

The Pirates will take on Normal Community at 2 p.m. Friday at the State Farm Center in the state semifinals. Normal Community rolled past Downers Grove North 53-29 at the CEFCU Arena at Illinois State University in Normal.

“This is historic, there’s no other word to describe it,” Millstone said. “We’ve never made it this far before. So, it’s historic. I really don’t know what’s next. I just want to go home and get some sleep for a little bit. We’ve had some great coaches in our conference that have been there and done that. So, I’m going to lean on them. That’s one of the best things about the MSL, everybody is in it together.”

Going back to a matchup with Warren at the end of January, Palatine finished with a one-point loss, so a strong comeback was vital for this key matchup. But the way the Pirates have been playing in recent games in the postseason, they just keep playing hard and find ways to win.

“I think it helped that we played Warren before, and it helped that we had a good second half against them,” Millstone said. “We talked about riding the momentum that we had in the last 16 minutes against them. The first time we played them, I thought our guys were awestruck. Rightfully so, (Warren’s) a really good basketball team. Once that went away we realized that they were just another basketball team. We felt a lot more confident and carried it over to the start of the game.”

Palatine started strong in the opening quarter with a couple of quick threes for a 5-point advantage and held a 23-12 advantage.

Warren (31-5) worked their way back in the second quarter with credit to their talented freshman Jaxson Davis who had a team-high 19 points and 6 steals. The Pirates had a 31-28 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, Palatine went on a 9-2 run with Tommy Elter scoring on a lay-up for a 40-30 lead with 4:42 left. The Blue Devils closed the quarter working their way back closer to trail 41-37.

During the fourth quarter, Palatine was even with Warren 48-48 with just over 3 minutes left and the momentum was turning in favor of Warren. But the Blue Devils couldn’t take over the lead as they had missed several free throws and were 3 for 9 free throws in the fourth quarter and 6 for 16 for the game.

Tony Balanganayl had the go-ahead basket of his 19 points and Darren Dick followed up with a three-point play that put the Pirates up 53-48 with 46 seconds remaining.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Balanganayl said. “I just tried my toughest to help my team out to get this win. I’m just glad we were here and we’re now going to Champaign.”

Warren scored the next 5 points to tie the game at 53-53 before the May game-winner.

“The disappointing part was that we didn’t play that well,” Warren coach Zack Ryan said. “Credit to (Palatine) for playing well and executing at time that we didn’t. We missed a lot of free throws. Which we haven’t done much this year. Every time, we tied it and were on the verge of taking the lead. (Palatine) had a big play and a big basket. They made free throws. We just didn’t. Sometimes, it’s as simple as that. Hats off to (Palatine), just disappointed to end a very good season. We thought we had it lined to have a good chance to make it downstate.”