The last time the Hawks and Pirates met, it took two overtimes for Palatine to emerge as the victor. Not this time. Behind a superb team effort defensively, the Pirates (14-10, 5-3) put the clamps on the Hawks Friday night en route to a 41-29 home victory. They remain one game behind conference-leading Barrington (18-4, 6-2) in the MSL West race. "We had a battle with Hoffman last time we played them, and know what they're capable of," said Pirates head coach Eric Millstone.

What a difference a couple of weeks can make. Back on December 1st, the Conant Cougars dropped a 45-31 decision to the Palatine Pirates in their first MSL West conference game of the season to sit at 2-3. Since then, the squad has reeled off four consecutive wins with the latest one coming Friday night as the Cougars earned a tough road win over the Fremd Vikings, 48-41. "I wasn't here last year, but I know these guys took some tough losses (to Fremd) and I know the guys who

Just days removed from a stellar defensive performance on the road against Cary-Grove, in which Schaumburg prevailed 41-34, the Saxons got a dose of their own medicine Friday night when visiting Barrington handed them their fifth loss of the season, 53-30, to begin MSL West conference play. The Broncos held the Saxons to 37 percent shooting from the field, and Schaumburg (2-5) shot just 44 percent from the charity stripe (7-for-16), as Barrington improved to 4-1 overall on th