Huntley holds off Marian rally
Things got a little dicey at the end, but Huntley held on for a 69-65 boys basketball win Tuesday night in Huntley.
Marian Central scored 27 fourth-quarter points to whittle away a 13-point deficit in nonconference action, but the Hurricanes ran out of time.
Zac Boster scored 14 points and Brett DePorter grabbed 12 rebounds as both Huntley's leading scorer and leading rebounder came off the bench.
Boster made four 3-pointers, one in each quarter, and added 2 free throws.
"I don't even know if I've made a 2-pointer this year," said Boster. "Usually I'm looking to shoot the 3. I'd like to start shooting more 2-pointers, obviously, because teams try to take away the 3-point shot."
Jordan Peart, who just joined the basketball team after the late end to Marian's football season, scored a game-high 22 points off the bench for the Hurricanes.
Mike Gonzaga added 12 points and 8 rebounds for the Red Raiders.
Foul shooting kept Marian in the game for 3½ quarters. The Hurricanes made 26 of 30 from the line as the teams combined to shoot 61 free throws.
Huntley missed 12 of 31 free throws and committed 18 turnovers.
"I was happy with our big guys, Brett (DePorter), Mike (Gonzaga), and Dan (Regan), I thought they all played really well," said Huntley coach Marty Manning. "Tyler Lawrence coming off the bench (played well), but our guard play was not good at all."
Huntley led 65-54 with 2 minutes left. Two free throws by Peart made it 67-62 with under a minute remaining. Jordan Neukirch and Diego Quintero each made a free throw for Huntley. Chris Casey made a 3-pointer for Marian to make it 69-65 with 3 seconds left, but Huntley was able to inbound the ball and the Hurricanes never got a chance to get closer.
"It's pretty much helter-skelter out there," said Marian coach Curtis Price, who hasn't yet conducted a full practice with the team's 4 football players.
Tom Giordano scored 9 points for Huntley, and Neukirch and Lawrence added 8 apiece.
Matt Everly scored 14 points for Marian. Andrew Stochl scored 9, all on free throws.
The Red Raiders dominated the backboard with a 40-28 rebounding advantage, leading to numerous second-chance points. That countered Marian's 3-point and free-throw shooting. The Hurricanes made just nine 2-point baskets for the game, but made seven 3-pointers in addition to their sharp free-throw shooting.