Jacobs rallies to tip CL Central
The Jacobs boys basketball team just keeps finding ways to win games at its own Jacobs Holiday Classic.
The Golden Eagles overcame a 5-point deficit with 5 minutes remaining Monday night and rallied past Crystal Lake Central, 60-59.
"We really stiffened up our defense and didn't give up anything," Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle said. "That kept us in the game to where we were able to put up some good shots and run our offense."
Jacobs is 2-0 in Pool I play and will play Barrington, which also is 2-0, at 7:30 p.m. today with the winner advancing to the championship bracket. The Golden Eagles (2-6) have won the tournament the last three seasons.
"So far we're doing all we can and playing our best," Jacobs junior Nick Hofman said. "Hopefully we can come out (today) and win our pool."
The Golden Eagles jumped out to a 11-2 lead behind 5 points from Matt Schmidt and 4 from Mike Peterson. They led 15-6 with 3 minutes left in the first quarter before the Tigers (1-9) went on a 13-0 run to take a 19-15 lead 20 seconds into the second quarter.
The game went back-and-forth the rest of the way with Jacobs leading by no more than 4 points and CL Central leading by 5, 51-46, with 5:15 left in the fourth quarter after John Nemcek's 3-pointer.
Hofman hit a pair of free throws with 3:32 left to tie the game at 53-53. The junior guard then found Peterson underneath for an easy layup with 2:57 left to give the Golden Eagles a 55-53 lead, the 10th and final lead change.
Hofman scored 9 points in the fourth, including going 5-for-5 from the foul line.
"I've always like that, always want the ball in my hands, so I will be able to do something with it," said Hofman, who finished with a game-high 18 points and went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line.
The Tigers' Michael Fior hit a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left to make it 60-59, but CL Central was out of timeouts to stop the clock and the Golden Eagles did not need to inbound the ball.
Schmidt finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds for Jacobs. Sean Meyer added 10 points.
Jake Chrystal led the Tigers with 12 points. Nemcek and Fior finished with 10 points each.
"We're really focused on trying to get a little better every game," Tigers coach Rich Czeslawski said. "I thought we took a step tonight that was pretty important."