Molloy powers St. Laurence past Palatine

Unfortunately for Palatine, it was Timmy time on Wednesday at York.

St. Laurence's Timmy Molloy, that is. His 7-for-13 barrage from 3-point range led to a game-high 24 points as the Vikings rolled past Mid-Suburban West front-runner Palatine 66-42 in second-round play of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic.

"It was one of those days," a modest Molloy said of his overall 8-of-15 performance from the field. "I had a good feeling about things after that first 3 I had bounced in."

Molloy's second and third triples ended quarters 1 and 2, enabling the Vikings to take a 31-17 edge into halftime.

His fourth and fifth 3s of the day expanded the St. Laurence advantage to over 20 at 44-23 with 1:01 left in the third.

When the 6-foot senior guard connected on his final two treys, it was part of an 11-2 run that gave St. Laurence its largest lead of the afternoon at 63-33 with 4:31 to play before a 9-3 Palatine surge led by 6-1 senior Martize Walker's 5 points closed out the scoring.

St. Laurence (12-2) advances to face Brother Rice (8-5), a 70-65 winner over Andrew, in a 6:30 p.m. Thursday quarterfinal.

"One of the things you love about coming here is the different types of defenses you see," Molloy said. "Today we got to see a team that played a zone that had a lot of variables. It only goes to help you as you go on later in the year."

Molloy also paid homage to his former head coach, Jim Maley, who departed for Conant last spring after laying the foundation for the team his successor Jim Sexton has successfully directed.

"Absolutely, coach Maley and Coach Sexton both could see the progress that we could make both as individuals and as well as a team," Molloy said. "It's really built our confidence."

Palatine (9-4) was led by 6-5 freshman Julian Campbell with 12 points. Six-foot-4 senior Cortez Hogans added 10 as the Pirates saw their 5-game winning streak snapped.

Pirates coach Eric Millstone hopes his squad will use its remaining two games in the tournament - starting with Thursday's 6 p.m. game versus Andrew (7-5) - to regroup before beginning the second half of its season.

"We knew coming in how talented they were," Millstone said of St. Laurence. "Sometimes you run into a team that gets real hot and you get side-tracked. Our goal is to win as many games as possible at this tournament. I feel that we'll bounce back."