Surging Jacobs rolls past McHenry
Balanced scoring and strong defense.
Those attributes were key in Jacobs’ 67-49 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball win over McHenry in Algonquin Tuesday night.
After an 0-4 start, the Golden Eagles have won 7 of 10 and are an even .500 for the season at 7-7. Jacobs improves to 2-1 in league action.
“Our defense was excellent tonight,” said Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle. “Our defense was very tenacious and we created offense from our defense. We created offense from our defense and got a lot of easy shots.”
The Golden Eagles really turned up the defensive heat in the second quarter in taking control of the game.
Leading 20-17 after one quarter, Jacobs started the second quarter on an 8-0 run. Lake Ojo scored on a pair of baskets and 3 free throws while sophomore Chrishawn Orange connected on a layup as the Golden Eagles mounted a double-digit lead at 11, 28-17, with 4:54 left in the first half.
Jacobs’ defense held the visiting Warriors scoreless in the second quarter until the 3:44 mark when Shane Varvil nailed a long 3-pointer to make the score 28-20.
Jacobs bounced back and outscored McHenry 11-6 the rest of the quarter to lead by 13, 39-26, at intermission.
The Warriors never really challenged the Golden Eagles in the second half. Jacobs’ biggest lead was 20, 65-45, after a layup by Patrick Nerja with 1:46 left in the game.
Nick Ledinsky paced 3 Golden Eagles in double figures with 16 points.
“We are getting better every game after a slow start,” said Ledinsky. “We were really fired up to play tonight and we as a team played hard. Our defense was very active and we got a lot of easy shots.”
Will Schwerdtmann followed Ledinsky closely in the scoring column with 15 including a 3-pointer. Ojo added 12 with 9 rebounds and 3 assists while Orange and Ryan Billings scored 8 apiece.
Hinkle credited Billings and Julian Lee as the catalysts for the Jacobs defense, which forced 19 McHenry turnovers.
“Ryan and Julian were really aggressive and active on defense,” said Hinkle. “They got our fast break going and got us easy baskets.”
Varvil led McHenry with 16 points while Damian Zalewski scored 13. The Warriors made only 7-of-25 3-pointers for 28 percent and overall were 18-of-60 from the floor for 30 percent.