RJ McPartlin battles through a shoulder injury to help St. Patrick take down No. 25 Deerfield

St. Patrick senior RJ McPartlin injured his shoulder in the Shamrocks’ rivalry win against Notre Dame on Friday and missed several practices this week. The 6-7 forward wasn’t at full health yet on Tuesday, but the showdown against visiting No. 25 Deerfield and Dartmouth recruit Jake Pollack was too big for him to miss.

“[McPartlin] was rebounding and scoring even with a hurt shoulder,” St. Patrick guard Maurice Neeley said. “That inspired the new, younger players on the team. To see someone hurting really bad still competing at a high level, that just says a lot about him.”

McPartlin had seven points and nine rebounds, but his primary contribution in the Shamrocks’ 50-41 win was his defensive effort on Pollack.

“I wanted to get on the court and play with my team,” McPartlin said. “I did a good enough job injured to help us get the win and I’m proud of that. [Pollack] was our focus, and we held him under his average.”

Pollack is one of the hottest players in the area, averaging 25 points in Deerfield’s first seven games. The 6-7 senior had 18 points and six rebounds.

“[Pollack] is handling the physicality and the attention on defense with more poise this season,” Deerfield coach Dan McKendrick said. “He has that self-confidence now as a senior and a Division I commit.”

St. Patrick (6-0) led 42-37 after two free throws from McPartlin with 4:16 left. The Shamrocks successfully executed a few long possessions after that to put the game away.

“I am very happy we are playing with a shot clock in the CSL South,” McKendrick said. “I felt like they definitely got us on some really long possessions. But to their credit, whenever we made a mistake they capitalized. And we didn’t. We found some shots and didn’t make them we needed to.”

Senior guard Maurice Neeley led St. Patrick with 17 points. Joseph Costanzo and Steven Quach each scored 10.

“I love the way our team plays,” McPartlin said. “Anyone can come in and give us good minutes. That was the first time our sophomore, Joe King, had played, and he came in and hit a deep three. He goes hard in practice and he deserved that.”

Shamrocks coach Mike Bailey described his team as “a bunch of good Division 3 college players that play well together and play hard.”

“We play our hearts out on defense, and that’s how we win games,” Neeley said. “There isn’t one person scoring a lot of points. It’s about rebounding and everyone playing hard and aggressively. That’s how we get our points.”

St. Patrick’s run to Champaign in Class 3A last season had tangible and intangible benefits. The Shamrocks have a new locker room and new shooting machines.

“If I knew they were going to do that, we would have gotten downstate earlier,” Bailey said.

The Warriors (6-2) have Pollack and guard Evan Nagler, last season’s leading scorers, back from a 24-8 team that advanced to the sectional finals. Nagler finished with 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.