Sterling 47, Huntley 41
Jordan Neukirch may wake up this morning still brushing off remnants of Joseph Bertrand.
Huntley's junior forward blanketed the Sterling star, and Zac Boster led a spirited third-quarter comeback, but it wasn't enough. Sterling edged the Red Raiders 47-41 to win the Class 3A Freeport sectional.
Huntley (20-10) fell behind 23-12 at halftime after being held scoreless in the second quarter. But with Boster scoring 12 of his game-high 20 points in the third quarter, the Red Raiders stormed back to tie the game at 30-30 after 24 minutes.
"We just needed somebody to step up and make some shots," said Boster. "And I took it on myself to get us back in the game.
"I just love playing when I feel like that. It's just a great feeling to play like that, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to get a win tonight."
The comeback seemed to take a lot out of the Raiders, however. The Golden Warriors scored the first 5 points of the fourth quarter and the made just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on.
After the rough second quarter, Huntley coach Marty Manning just wanted to keep his players' confidence up.
"I just wanted to reassure the guys that if they executed offensively, they would get the shots they wanted," he said. "That was my big concern was them thinking, 'We're not going to score, we can't score on these guys.' "
Bertrand scored just 10 points 2 nights after hitting for 38 against Burlington Central, but the Warriors (22-8) got contributions from some other sources. Devin Johnson scored 11 points and Clay Hadley had 10 off the bench. Neukirch spent most of the night glued to Bertrand.
"He's a hyper-competitive kid and he takes it upon himself to shut down other players," said Manning.
"I told the guys I'd never sweated so much going into halftime," said Neukirch. "It's definitely one of the harder jobs guarding (Bertrand)."
Boster also grabbed a game-high 7 rebounds. Dan Regan added 5 points and 6 boards, and four players scored 4 points apiece for Huntley.
Midway through the third quarter, the Red Raiders found themselves trailing by 13, their biggest deficit of the game. But a driving layup by Diego Quintero started a 13-0 run.
Boster scored the last 7 points on a 3-pointer a 4 free throws. Boster hit 2 free throws after a technical foul on Sterling's Nolan Anderson. Boster nailed a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession and, after a Sterling miss, 2 more free throws to tie the game with 46 seconds left in the third quarter.
"You've got to give Huntley a lot of credit," said Sterling coach Peter Goff. "They banged us up pretty good on their flex offense. They did a good job of setting screens. In the second quarter we kind of figured it out a little bit."