Mertes, Hersey roll past Meadows
Hersey's Jordan Mertes knows the state playoffs are right around the corner.
"Hopefully we can get on a little streak now," the senior guard said.
Mertes sure was part of a nifty streak in an 81-64 triumph over visiting Rolling Meadows in the Ken Carter Gymnasium on Friday night.
The Huskies (13-10, 6-3) closed out the first half with a 13-1 run as Mertes scored 9 of those points with a pair of 3-pointers and a 3-point play.
The big rally gave the Huskies an 18-point lead at the break of the Mid-Suburban East contest.
"Things just started to open up for us at the end of the first half," said Mertes, the Hersey assist leader this season who collected a handful against Meadows (7-14, 3-6). "We were moving the ball around well. The lane opened up and we hit some open 3s."
Sophomore Justin Jobski was hitting late as he scored 10 of his team-high 18 points in the fourth quarter.
Junior Tom Sutrinaitis was hitting early as she scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the first quarter.
"Tom does a great job," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "He really had a nice first half."
Senior Kyle Miklasz scored in every quarter and finished with 14 points as the Huskies rang up a season-high 81 points.
"We are not going to beat anyone if we give up 80 points," said Mustangs coach Kevin Katovich. "We're not the type of team that is going to score in the 60s, 70s or 80s. After our last game against Niles West, I thought we were starting to get it defensively, But I've got to tip my cap to Hersey. They put up a lot of offense. They are an explosive team."
Richie Kemph put some explosiveness into the Meadows offense with his game-high 19 points and 4 3-pointers. Kyle Weiner came off the bench to add 13 (11 in the second half) and sophomore Brian Nelms chipped in12.
"Our kids battled and never gave up," Katovich added. "But no one stepped up and they (Hersey) had a lot of kids step up. We worked on things all week but we didn't get the results we wanted."
Kemph's third 3-pointer brought the Mustangs to within 23-22 with 6:30 left in the second quarter but Hersey held the visitors to one basket (a layup by Weiner) the rest of the half and used a 20-3 run to take charge.
"That second quarter was the best defense we played the whole game," Messer said. "We didn't give up an easy shots and we got the first rebound. Jordan (Mertes) did a great job of penetrating and shooting. When he reads the defense, he can get a lot of assists."
"Part of the reason we scored so many points was because we were pushing the ball up the floor," Mertes said. "But also we were getting good shots and getting several contributions scoring-wise. The offense really clicked."
Messer liked his team's effort.
"We didn't back down and kept the energy up," he said. "I felt we could have done a little better on defense. If the energy there matches the energy on offense, then we have something going."