The Stevenson Patriots fell short against the Palatine Pirates in the sectional semifinals on Friday, March 1. While it ended their season, it gave the team many memories to carry into the next year. The Patriots could not defeat the Pirates strong defense, falling 46-38.

Rocco Pagliocca ’26 and Jack Dabbs ’24 combined for 27 points including seven 3-point shots for the Patriots. Armand Burris ’24 had an outstanding final game as well, proving his strong athletic abilities on the defensive end.

The Patriots started with all the momentum as Pagliocca hit a game-opening 3-pointer straight out of the gate. Dabbs and Aidan Bardic ’25 followed with 3-point shots of their own. Atticus Richmond ’25 seemed to grab all the rebounds to keep the ball in Stevenson’s favor. After Pagliocca’s second 3-pointer of the quarter, the Patriots closed out the first quarter with a commanding 14-2 lead.

However, the Pirates defense took over in the second quarter, holding the Patriots to only 2 points throughout the entire eight minutes. The offense was chipping away as well, as they climbed back to cut the deficit to 16-13, going into halftime.

“We were being very passive and not very aggressive, and we stopped making shots,” Head Coach William Benson said.

The Patriots started to fight back in the third quarter, as Dabbs grabbed a steal and passed to Richmond for the contested layup. However, it wasn’t enough as the Pirates offense didn’t relent with three 3-point shots, and another final 3-point field goal by Palatine’s Connor May who drained the last second shot at the buzzer. Palatine closed the quarter out with a 29-23 lead over the Patriots.

The Patriots started the final minutes strong with an intense Burris block, and Dabbs’ three pointer. The Pirates offense still couldn’t be stopped as they poured on 17 more points to secure the win for Palatine.

While the season was cut shorter than the Patriots players had hoped, Benson and the players know that this season was a huge building block for the Stevenson Boys’ Basketball program. They know that they’ll be able to come out stronger than ever next year.

“I think we’ve learned multiple things this year,” Bardic said. “We’ve learned to focus on ourselves, nobody else, block out all outside noise, and just focus on ourselves every single day. Next year we know what is needed to win so from the jump we will all have the same mindset.”

Benson credits the seniors for the season’s successes. The seniors were a key asset of the program this year and have helped build the program for many years.

“I just can’t thank the seniors enough for kind of steering the ship [throughout the season],” Benson said.