Sharing helps Hersey keep share of MSL East lead
With the game on the line Friday night, Hersey’s Connor Miklasz stepped up with a key fourth-quarter performence.
With the Huskies leading Rolling Meadows by 5 points with 5:26 left in the game at Hersey’s Ken Carter gymnasium, Miklasz scored 4 baskets over a 1:43 span to put away the Mustangs (3-6, 0-3).
Hersey (4-4, 3-0) went on to defeat Rolling Meadows 66-54 in the Mid-Suburban East to keep a share of first place in the division.
“I was just reading the defense on those drives,” said Miklasz, who scored 17 points including 10 in the fourth quarter and had 7 rebounds. “It’s always tough in the MSL. We had success because we kept finding the open man.”
Justin Jobski was a receipient of those passes, scoring 20 points and pulling down 6 rebounds. Five of his 6 baskets came from assists.
“We worked hard in practice this week on drills to find the open man,” Jobski said. “We worked to get the open shots instead of forcing them.”
“This was one of the best efforts this team has shown me in sharing the ball,” said Hersey coach Steve Messer. “It was fun to watch Jobski and Tom Sutrinaitis (7 points, 5 assists) in the lane. Connor made some good decisons late in the game.”
The Mustangs hung tough as Tyler Gaedele (18 points) and Brian Nelms (10 points) kept Rolling Meadows close.
Hersey’s biggest lead was 23-12 with 5:29 left in the first half. Scott Shewmon (8 points), in his first game back from a foot injury, scored 2 baskets for the Mustangs, who also received 3 points from Gaedele and Eric Lowe to narrow the halftime lead to 29-22.
Nine points from Gaedele in the third quarter helped the Mustangs pull within 44-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
“Our kids played a great game,” said Mustangs coach Kevin Katovich. “We executed well and we had some good shots. A lot of them didn’t fall through.
“We really competed and I liked that. Miklasz is a nice player and he did some things for them down the stretch.”
The Huskies received some strong bench play from Sean Reszotko with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Trevor Haas added 9 points. Hersey outrebounded the Mustangs 36-20.