Huntley 45, Crystal Lake Central 35
Momentum changing shots don't come easy or often.
Huntley guard Tom Giordano's was no exception.
Giordano jacked an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired in the first half to give the Red Raiders a 16-12 lead over Richmond-Burton in the opening round of the Class 3A Crystal Lake Central regional Tuesday night.
No. 1 seeded Huntley never looked back, cruising to a 45-35 victory over the Rockets (13-14).
"It was a relief to get ahead," Giordano said. "At halftime, everyone came out a little looser and a little more confident."
The Red Raiders (18-9) now await the winner of today's contest between the host Tigers and No. 3 Johnsburg -- both teams that have played Huntley tough this season. The Red Raiders will look for their second-straight regional championship at Central Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Huntley hopes the second-half confidence lingers until Friday. Huntley used its 4-point halftime lead garnered from Giordano's basket and built a 23-12 advantage with 4:27 left in the third quarter.
Brett Deporter scored an offensive putback, Mike Gonzaga got a feed down low from Giordano (8 points, 2 assists) to score and he then found Giordano for another 3-pointer.
"It was a good momentum boost," Huntley coach Marty Manning said of Giordano's shot. "What was bigger was them attacking the way we asked them to."
The Red Raiders owned the boards in the third period, finishing with a 10-1 advantage on the glass. Huntley was out-rebounded 9-5 in the first half.
"We did a great job of grabbing rebounds," Manning said. "We attacked the glass really well in the third quarter."
The Red Raiders struggled early on.
Huntley did not score a point for the first 6 minutes, 23 seconds of the game and converted its first basket with 54 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Red Raiders did not lead until Gonzaga put in a layup with 57 seconds left to cut the Rockets' lead to 6-4. Huntley was just 1 of 7 from the floor in the first quarter.
Richmond-Burton went with a box-and-1 defense, isolating Red Raiders' sharpshooter Zac Bolster. Ken Riordan prevented Bolster from getting a shot off during the first half.
"It threw us off for a minute," Giordano said. "But we knew Zac was going to do other things. He was going to set picks to get other players open to his shots. I think we did that."
Bolster (6 points) broke free in the third quarter nailing a 3-pointer and a long 2-pointer.
Richmond-Burton was led by 10 points from Brad Johnstin. Huntley got a balanced attack, with Giordano and Diego Quintero scoring 8 points apiece.