Rafferty, Hinsdale Central too hot for Metea Valley
The heart and scrappiness that Metea Valley used to win 10 straight games was on display Tuesday night when the Mustangs were trying to hold off scorching-hot Hinsdale Central center Matt Rafferty.
And even while Rafferty was hitting his first 11 shots in the Class 4A East Aurora sectional semifinal, and after the Furman recruit had torched Metea Valley for 27 first-half points, the Mustangs still found themselves leading 46-45 early in the third quarter following a three-point play by Dei'ron Delarosa.
But when Rafferty failed to cool off and his Red Devils teammates stayed hot right along his side, No. 4 seed Hinsdale Central proved to be just too much for the Mustangs. A big second half led to an 88-67 victory that sends the favorites into a Friday night sectional final against either No. 6 West Aurora or No. 7 York.
Rafferty, who finished the night with 40 points on 14-of-18 shooting from the floor and a perfect 8-of-8 night from the free-throw line, hit a pair of technical foul shots, a short turnaround jumper and then a 3-pointer for a personal 7-0 run after the Mustangs (18-13) had taken their first lead of the night early in that third quarter.
“That was awesome. It was a great team win,” said Rafferty, who helped the Red Devils improve to 24-6 on the year. “The guys did a great job of finding me. I was hot. I was in a groove and I tried to stay hot in both halves. It worked out well.”
Mustangs senior Mark Konkle, who had 10 points and 3 rebounds, was happy to see his team put forth another big effort, but their improbable playoff run just couldn't keep up with Rafferty.
“I think, you know, our intensity never went down. I thought we played hard the entire game,” said Konkle, whose Mustangs trailed just 42-38 at the half even though Rafferty was 9 of 9 from the floor, including a trio of 3-pointers. “They just started making shots and the size advantage they had kind of caught up with us a little bit. But I'm really proud. It was a tremendous season by us.”
With Thomas Ives hitting three 3s and scoring 18 points and the Red Devils finding open cutters for layup after layup in the second half, Metea Valley just couldn't keep up and extend its magical postseason run any longer. Hinsdale Central led 66-54 after three quarters and built the lead to more than 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“I'm really proud of them to get that regional championship,” Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza said of his team. “I think it all started for us on the defensive end this last month and a half. We were very good in transition, but they ran right with us (tonight) and obviously they got some petty good players down there.”
For the Mustangs, Delarosa led the way with 16 points, but Mark Helwig and Ron Edwards each added 13 and joined Konkle to give them four players in double figures. It was a trio of 3s from Helwig that helped keep the game tight in the first half.
“They're really scrappy and really well coached,” Hinsdale Central coach Nick Latorre said. “They played extremely hard and they were hitting some shots. But we were too. Fortunately, we were able to stay hot. Give them credit.”
And Latorre also was quick to give Rafferty some credit.
“Anytime anybody's shooting 11 for 11, that's pretty cool. He had a great game,” he said. “His shot selection was good and the strength is back (after a hand injury) for the 3-point shot, which was back. He kept us in it. I don't know if we fed off him or if we got behind him and skitched behind him for a while.”