Neuqua Valley downs Hoffman Estates 64-62
ROCKTON - Anything but a down-to-the-wire finish would have been a letdown when two of the area's top teams met to open the sixth annual Martin Luther King Shootout on Saturday morning at Hononegah High School.
As time expired, Neuqua Valley senior Derek Raridon threw up a jumper that bounced twice off the rim and fell in to give the Wildcats a 64-62 victory over Hoffman Estates.
"It was supposed to be for a 3 in the corner," Raridon said. "But they defended it well so I had to do something."
"Derek just made a play on his own," Neuqua coach Todd Sutton added. "It wasn't the play, it was the player. He's a great shooter and he has a super-soft touch."
Hoffman (13-3) had trailed by as much as 8 points in the fourth quarter, but rallied with the help of three 3-pointers. Senior Kemill Long buried the final trey with 35 seconds left in the game, putting the pressure on Neuqua (16-1) to score or go into an overtime in which the Hawks had all the momentum.
"That was a heck of a shot," Hoffman coach Bill Wandro said of Raridon's jumper. "That last shot went up in the air and straight back down. A lot of times that comes back out. The damage to us, though, was done in the first half."
Most of that first-half damage was done by Neuqua junior Dwayne Evans (28 points), who dominated under the basket and exploited Hoffman's defense for 19 first-half points. Evans and senior Kareem Amedu (15 points) combined for 11 rebounds.
"We made a point of (Evans) at halftime," Wandro said. "But it's not just one guy going against one guy. That was a team breakdown. I give our guys credit. They did a better job in the second half."
The Hawks were led by Lance Vesper (15 points) and senior guards Long (13) and Luke Mead (12). Long and Mead hit a combined seven 3-pointers, including all three in the fourth quarter.
- David Just