Jacobs 79, McHenry 43
Jacobs seniors John Moran and Zack Peterson made sure their last regular season home game was a memorable one.
Moran and Peterson combined for 44 points as Jacobs claimed its second consecutive Fox Valley Conference Valley Division crown with an easy 79-43 win over McHenry in Algonquin Tuesday night.
The Golden Eagles, 23-2 overall, move to 9-0 in league play.
Moran paced Jacobs with 25 points, 10 assists and 7 steals while Peterson scored 19 points with a pair of 3's.
"It was an awesome night," said Moran. "It was a lot of fun. They had more intensity than us in the first quarter but we played well the last 3 quarters. Hopefully, we will be back in this gym to play in the sectionals. It is nice to win the conference again, but we still have a lot of work to do."
Said Peterson. "It has been a fast 4 years. It was a fun and crazy night. It feels great to win the conference. We started slow, but we kept our composure."
Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle praised Moran and Peterson.
"John and Zack set the tone for this team," said Hinkle. "They are the hardest workers on the team in practice and all the rest of the players have to follow. "Tuesday, was also the last home game for seniors Tom Krueger, who missed last year with an ACL injury along with Darius Bowers, Eric Schmidt and Norell Viray.
Jacobs started slow and trailed McHenry 14-13 after 1 quarter. The Golden Eagles grabbed control of the game in the second quarter.
Jacobs led by 7 points from Moran and a 3 by Peterson, outscored the Warriors 10-2 to start the quarter and led 23-16 with 5:30 left in the half.
McHenry cut the Jacobs deficit to 4, 23-19 after a 3 by Pat Bellich with 4:59 before intermission. That would be as close as McHenry would get.
Jacobs ended the half on a 17-2 run, including a conventional 3 by Moran at the buzzer.
The Golden Eagles led McHenry 40-21 at the half.
Jacobs' biggest lead was 40, 75-35 after a basket by Mike Barch with 1:44 left in the game.
Backing Moran and Peterson, Conrad Krutwig scored 11 points with 9 rebounds for the Golden Eagles Bellich scored 10 for McHenry.
"The playoffs started tonight," said Hinkle. "This game was for the conference championship and the kids met the challenge. This championship was harder than last year. We snuck up on people last year. This year everybody was shooting for us. This was a hard earned championship. We put in a higher gear the last 3 quarters and played very well."
Jacobs played its second straight game without junior forward Tim Moran, who was out with mononucleosis. He is questionable for Friday's regular season finale at Dundee-Crown.