St. Patrick zones out Hersey

Hersey traveled to Chicago’s St. Patrick High School on Friday night hoping to pickup third-place honors in the Kurland/Schnurr Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Huskies’ opponent had other ideas.

Hersey had difficulties with the Shamrocks’ 2-3 zone defense and fell 66-48 to end the week at 2-2.

“We did not attack their zone very well,” said Hersey coach Steve Messer, “until near the end of the game. By then it was too late. It was a battle of wills and tonight they had more of it. We missed a lot of free throws (13-for-28) and we didn’t get after the loose balls. I like the pieces we have, but there’s just something missing. We just need to trust each other on the floor a little more. They just took it to us in the second quarter.”

Hersey built a 12-6 lead following Mike Fuerst’s putback basket with 4:00 left in the first quarter. The Huskies were blanked the rest of the quarter as the Shamrocks (3-1) scored the final 8 points, which included Nicholas Coleman’s 3 pointer with five seconds left that gave them the lead for god at 14-12.

In the second and third quarters, St. Patrick outscored Hersey 42-23 to build a commanding 56-35 lead.

Coleman, who finished with 18 points, had 4 steals and 5 assists in the middle quarters. Issac Moore tallied all 14 of his points during the same span. Adrian Pierczchanowski added 13 points.

The Huskies pulled to within 28-22 with 2:49 left in the first half on a basket by Fuerst. An 8-0 run by St. Patrick led by Pierczchanowski (5 points) and Colemans 3 pointer helped swell the lead back to 36-22 with :49 left in the half.

“We knew Hersey was bigger than us,” said Coleman, “so we switched from our man defense to the 2-3 zone. We had to take away their inside game and force their good shooters to miss. We had to play to our strengths — like playing good defense, running the floor and making good cuts to the basket.”

The Huskies shot just 37 percent (16-for-43) from the floor, while the Shamrocks shot 61 percent (27-for-44).

Alex Mueller led Hersey with 17 points and Fuerst finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds.

“We felt good coming into the tournament,” said Mueller. “We have the experience, but now we have to put it together. Their cuts to the basket killed us. We would double up on them — but then they found a cutter.”