Huntley, Rockford Lutheran look a lot alike

Mike Gonzaga

Jordan Neukirch

If not for the fact one team wears red and the other purple, fans might have a hard time telling the boys basketball teams from Huntley and Rockford Lutheran apart.

The combatants in tonight's 7:30 p.m. semifinal of the Class 3A Freeport sectional are near-mirror images of each other, right down to their winning reflections.

Huntley (19-9) defeated host Crystal Lake Central 52-45 to advance to the sectional round for the second straight year under second-year coach Marty Manning.

Rockford Lutheran (16-10) has won 5 of its last 6 games, including its second straight regional title after an 11-year drought under sixth-year coach Devin Smith.

The Crusaders defeated Belvidere 65-61 on Friday to win the Marengo regional.

Neither team boasts much height and the scoring load is spread evenly among the top six in the rotation for both teams. Different players take turns leading their respective squads in scoring and both coaches use a rotation of eight or nine players.

Huntley's offense is led by junior Jordan Neukirch (9.5 ppg.), junior sixth man and long-range specialist Zac Boster (9.0), senior guard Tom Giordano (8.1), senior forward Dan Regan (7.0), senior center Mike Gonzaga (6.1) and senior point guard Diego Quintero (4.6)

But Huntley's defense is what caught Smith's eye.

"I'm really impressed with the kind of pressure they put on the basketball as well as that they try to keep you on one side of the floor," Smith said. "Defensively, they remind me of what we've gone up against in the Big Northern against Byron. They pressure you really well and force you into mistakes or to shoot the ball faster than you want to."

Rockford Lutheran is the smallest of the 158 schools entered in the Class 3A tournament at 441 students (727.65 under the multiplier for private schools).

But playing bigger schools has proven beneficial in recent years to the Crusaders, who have won 19 games and lost 12 over the past six seasons to schools formerly considered Class AA.

"Our kids really thrive on wanting to play the bigger schools," Smith said. "They really take it as a challenge and I think we do a good job of getting our kids fired up to face bigger schools."

Though the Red Raiders return several players from last year's regional title team, that experience hasn't borne fruit in the playoffs as of yet.

"I was hoping it would help us (last Friday), but it didn't," Manning said. "Our guys will be just as nervous as everybody else, which is understandable. Even though we had people on that team, they weren't playing as much as they are this year."

Defensively, Huntley will have its hands full against returning Rockford Lutheran starters Brad Lighthall (12 ppg.) and Nathan Green (11.0). Controlling that duo will be a problem for the Red Raiders, whose effort was lauded by their coach.

"For the most part my guys have been playing about as well as they could and about as hard as they can," Manning said. "It's the little things with us now. We've become more patient offensively, which is good. We're doing a good job defensively and a good job on the boards.

"Hopefully, these guys can prolong it a little bit longer."

The winner will play the winner of Wednesday's semifinal between Burlington Central (22-6) and Sterling (21-8) on Friday for the right to advance to the NIU supersectional.