Hersey survives Wheeling's big rally
For the better part of three quarters against Wheeling on Friday night at Hersey's Ken Carter gym, the Huskies boys basketball team was having its way against the Wildcats.
Hersey had been shooting 42 percent from the field on 15 of 35 while the Wildcats struggled at 21 percent (7-for-33) after three quarters. Hersey held a 37-20 lead.
The Huskies led 42-24 with 4:31 left in both teams Mid-Suburban East opener.
Yet Hersey barely hung on to a 48-42 win.
Welcome to the Mid-Suburban East conference race.
"We need to be able to play the full game," said Hersey senior center Joe Nugent. "We need to be able to minimize runs by teams - like what Wheeling did tonight. There's not a lot of experience on this team and we're still figuring out where we need to be on the floor and to handle runs like this."
Nugent scored 8 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and handed out 3 assists.
"Where were those good shots we made in the fourth quarter the other three quarters?" said Wheeling coach Michael O'Keeffe. "We forced a lot of shots early, and we didn't play with a good comfort level in the first quarter. It was hard to get good shots against Hersey's defense. When we started playing better defense in the second and third quarters it helped pick us up."
Wheeling (2-4, 0-1) hit only 1 of 12 field goal attempts in the first quarter, and Hersey (2-3, 1-0) took advantage.
The Huskies led 9-2, and following a Phil Bucko free throw finished the quarter with a 10-0 run.
Will Nagle scored 5 of his team high 9 points during that span for Hersey.
"Tonight was a breakout night for Will," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "He's one of the hardest workers we have."
Nagle pulled down 5 rebounds and had 4 blocked shots.
"I hardly played at all last year," said Nagle. "But I worked real hard over the summer and in preseason practice to get my minutes. Now it's starting to pay off for me.
"We started out with a lot of energy and our crowd really helped get us going."
The Wildcats started to find their stride by playing even in the second quarter but still trailed trail 30-14 at halftime. Wheeling was only outscored 7-6 in the third quarter.
Wheeling then hit six 3s to cut the lead to 46-42 with :40 left in the game.
Michael Best, who led Wheeling with 15 points, scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, when Bucko scored 6 of his 13 points. Freshman Joe Jordan played strong inside with 12 rebounds.
The Wildcats had a chance to get closer when the Huskies were called for traveling with :21 left in the game. Bucko's shot in the lane missed and Nugent grabbed the rebound.
Ryan Verhulst was fouled with two seconds left, and made 2 free throws for Hersey to end the scoring.
"We're still a young team and we're learning game by game," said O'Keeffe. "I hope that the way we finished this game was a good omen for us."
"Our defense was pretty good except for when they hit those 3-pointers at the end," said Nugent. "We practiced limiting them to one shot and we did pretty good tonight."