Huntley holds off Jacobs in OT
Huntley boys basketball coach Marty Manning knew that when junior Tyler Brunschon nailed a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left in regulation, his team had finally gained its momentum back.
Brunschon's free throws brought Huntley to a 39-39 tie against Jacobs in the play-in game of the Class 4A Crystal Lake South regional Monday night. Huntley held off Jacobs on potential game-winning shots twice to take a 51-50 overtime victory. This is the second year that Huntley (15-12) ousted the Golden Eagles (8-19) from postseason play.
The fourth-seeded Red Raiders will play top-seeded Rockford Jefferson (20-6) at 6 p.m. today in the semifinals.
Senior Mason Kaniewski nailed a 3-pointer with 26 seconds remaining giving the Red Raiders a 51-50 lead.
"The play was designed to go to Tyler," said Kaniewski, who finished with 8 points.
Jacobs nearly claimed its sixth straight victory, though, as Matt Schmidt's jumper bounced in and out of the rim as time expired in overtime. Mike Peterson missed a shot as time expired in regulation for the Eagles. Jacobs could have put the game away at the free-throw line, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 twice.
"There were two different times where we could have won it with shots and two different times where we could have won it at the free-throw line," Eagles' coach Jim Hinkle said. "In overtime, it felt like we scored every time, but they answered."
Jacobs outscored Huntley 20-15 in the second half as the Red Raiders went 5 of 27 from the floor in the second half. But Huntley bounced back to sink all 5 of its shots in the extended session including 3-pointers from both Kaniewski and Brunschon. Brunschon finished with 7 of his team-high 16 points in the overtime.
"Tyler was very clutch down the stretch, especially when things weren't going our way," Manning said. "They were a little deflated with the way we shot the ball. Tyler was very clutch down the stretch, especially when things weren't going our way."
Jacobs went 6 of 15 in the third quarter and scored 16 points to take a 35-30 lead by the end of the quarter. Peterson (11 points, 3 assists) and Sean Meyer (15 points) each scored 6 points in the third.
Jacobs also controlled the glass, with a 13-5 rebounding advantage in the third, including 7 rebounds from Meyer (10 rebounds) in the period.
Huntley took a 24-19 lead at halftime after going 12 of 12 from the free-throw line. Jacobs was just 3 of 9 in the first half and 12 of 21 overall. Huntley finished the game going 17 of 18.
Freshman Bryce Only (11 rebounds) scored all 8 of his points in the first half for Huntley.