Palatine's Cinderella playoff run ends in Class 4A semis against Normal

CHAMPAIGN—After every game at the IHSA state basketball finals, there is a news conference. The winning and losing teams sit down in the media room, usually the head coach and four or five players.

Each game is scrutinized like an NCAA Final Four matchup.

Sometimes, that’s a bit silly. Palatine coach Eric Millstone was able to sum up the difference between his team and Normal quite simply.

“There weren’t any adjustments we could make other than grow taller,” Millstone said.

Normal, possibly the tallest team in the state, beat the Pirates 58-38 in the Class 4A state semifinals at State Farm Center on Friday.

The Ironmen start 6-10 Jaheem Webber, 6-8 Noah Cleveland, 6-6 Nico Newsome, 6-4 Braylon Roman and 6-4 Dexter Niekamp. They outrebounded Palatine 32-13.

“It’s not just the length; it is the bulk that goes with it,” Millstone said. “I give all the credit in the world to our guys for putting their noses in there and really battling, but at some point, the laws of physics take over.”

Roman led Normal (32-5) with 19 points, and Webber finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks.

The Ironmen led 27-22 at halftime and opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run and never looked back.

Sun-Times All-Area selection Connor May led Palatine (28-9) with 17 points.

“Everybody told us how great [May] was, and he is even better live than he was on film,” Normal coach Dave Witzig said. “[Newsome] did a great job on him, and he was still 8-for-14 from the field. He’s very hard to stop.”

May, a Washington University recruit, led the Pirates to back-to-back Mid-Suburban League championships, the first for the school in 30 years. This was Palatine’s first trip to the state finals.

“Connor has been unbelievable the last three years,” Millstone said. “He’s able to be an incredible basketball player within the framework of our team. He’s been great when we need him to be great. That’s a difficult thing to do. The deeper we went in the playoffs, the more he elevated his game.”

Senior Tommy Elter added 10 points for Palatine, and sophomore Tony Belanganayi scored six.

Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

The Ironmen were one of the preseason picks to advance to Champaign and played a rugged schedule, driving to the Chicago area regularly to match up against DePaul Prep, Waubonsie Valley, Benet and Downers Grove North. Normal also played Thornton and Kenwood in the regular season.

“[The schedule] absolutely helped us,” Witzig said. “It’s just a little bit different basketball than in central Illinois. That really prepared us for tonight.”

Normal advances to the state championship game for the first time since 2015, when it lost to Jalen Brunson and Stevenson.

“There was chatter about our team in the summer because of how tall we were,” Witzig said. “But it has taken us awhile to play the defense we want to play. The last four or five weeks we’ve been playing unbelievable defense. We are playing our best basketball at the right time.”