Daniels, Vernon Hills drill Wauconda

Young kids were asking.

Old kids were asking.

DaVaris Daniels was in demand on Friday.

The Vernon Hills senior was getting multiple requests for his autograph as he left Wauconda’s gym and headed for the locker room. Some people even waited for him to re-emerge, catching him on his way to the team bus.

It’s likely people wanted a piece of Daniels because of his football prowess, and because of his potential for greatness in that sport. After all, the tall and speedy wide receiver will be playing at Notre Dame next year (he made his long-standing commitment official this week by signing his letter of intent), and already he has pro football in his genes. Daniels’ father has played in the NFL for years.

But, on this night, Daniels’ basketball skills could have earned him some autograph-seekers as well.

Daniels scored a game-high 17 points, including 3 3-pointers in a monster first quarter that set the tone for a breezy 61-38 victory over host Wauconda in North Suburban Conference Prairie Division action.

Vernon Hills improves to 14-7 overall and 8-2 in the Prairie Division while Wauconda falls to 6-16 overall and 2-8 in Prairie action.

“We had practice this morning and we weren’t shooting so well,” Daniels said. “It was kind of a surprise that we shot so well tonight. But once you get in the flow of things, it kind of comes back naturally.”

Daniels was certainly in the flow early, as were many of his teammates.

The Cougars bolted out to a 17-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and extended that to a 24-point lead by halftime, primarily on the strength of pinpoint shooting from the perimeter.

Daniels hit 3-of-4 3-pointers in the first quarter and wound up with 15 points over those first eight minutes.

The hot shooting caught on fast.

Vernon Hills canned 5 of 9 3-pointers in the second quarter and Daniels wasn’t even responsible for any of them.

Guards Chris Argianas, Stephen Curry, Daren Hoveydai and Niko Escanilla were among those who hit shots from three-point land for the Cougars.

“Their shooting was very good,” Wauconda coach Scott Luetschwager. “But it’s Vernon Hills. They’ve always got good shooters. They’re always going to hit 3s.”

Overall, Vernon Hills was 10-of-26 from 3-point land, but the damage had already been done in the first half. The Cougars hit 8-of-16 3-pointers before halftime.

“Early, we lived on the 3-pointer,” Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said. “We shot outstanding to start the game. We didn’t practice all week (because of the snowstorm that canceled school throughout the area), so I was really amazed that we were able to shoot it as well as we did.”

Vernon Hills got points out of 10 players, including double-figures from Argianas. He finished with 11 points.

Wauconda, which was playing short-handed without the services of starters Kyle Ryan (injured foot) and Matt Mead (suspension), didn’t place any players in double figures. Forward Michael Obrochta tried to lead the way by crashing the boards. He scored a team-high 9 points and got a couple of baskets on putbacks.

Ryan Gick had 8 points and Connor Rueb finished with 6 points for Wauconda.

Despite better offensive efficiency in the second half, the Bulldogs were still never able to close the second-half margin to fewer than 21 points.

“They had so many more shooters than we did,” Obrochta said. “Our best shooter (Ryan) was out. And Tyler Gick (one of Wauconda’s leading scorers) was sick.

“We were worried about that coming into this game. On the inside, they were giving me a lot of open shots and I just took them.”