Huntley edges Crystal Lake South, keeps heat on Jacobs
Huntley kept the heat on Fox Valley Conference Valley Division-leading Jacobs with a 51-43 victory over visiting Crystal Lake South Saturday night, thanks in part to a pair of heady assists from junior guard Troy Miller late in the game.
Leading 45-42 with 1:36 to play, the Red Raiders inbounded the ball and quickly spread the floor to combat CL South's half-court trap.
After playing keep away for 30 seconds, Miller spotted senior teammate Tyler Brunschon cutting toward the baseline and fired the ball to him from just inside midcourt. Brunschon turned the pass into a layup and a 5-point Huntley lead with 1:01 remaining.
"They called "black," which means they trap in the corners," Miller said. "So we just passed it around. We knew they'd come up, and I saw it was wide open back by the hoop."
The layup capped Brunschon's game-best 15-point night.
"If they trapped us, I was supposed to go to the block," Brunschon said. "It was a good thing Miller saw me. That gave us good momentum to finish the game. If it weren't for Troy finding me, I don't know what would've happened."
After Gavin Rubin split 2 free throws for CL South, Miller was fouled and sank both shots from the free-throw line. Miller drained 2 more free throws for the final margin after the Gators missed a 3-point attempt with 20 seconds left.
CL South (11-9, 1-5) trailed by 10 points late in the third quarter, but Gavin Rubin capped an 11-2 run by stealing the ball at midcourt and racing for a breakaway layup to slice the deficit to 41-40 with 5:10 left in the game.
That's when Miller showed the guts of a burglar. Inbounding the ball under his own basket, he bounced it off the hind quarters of a CL South player and scurried after the loose ball. He settled the rolling ball beneath him and, in one motion, blindly passed it backward between his legs to Justin Frederick, who was all alone in the lane and banked home a shot that gave Huntley a 3-point lead.
"That first part was pretty risky," Brunschon said. "Luckily, it bounced right to him."
"When we practice those plays coach (Tony) Jones jokes around and tells us to throw it off the guy's back," Miller said. "I recognized that and got lucky. And I knew Justin was right there. It was risky, but it was all right."
The loss halted a modest 2-game winning streak for the Gators, who were held to 43 points in each of their losses to Huntley in 2011.
"We got some good turnovers there in the fourth quarter to claw back, but it seems like that's been the story four or five times this year," CL South coach Dan DeBruycker said. "We claw back and cut it to one, then we fall apart at the end."
Senior Kevin Rogers led the Gators with 15 points. He sank 4-of-10 attempts from 3-point range. Senior center Tyler Dawson posted 14 points and 8 rebounds.
The victory was the fifth straight for Huntley (17-4, 5-1), which last lost in the Valley Division opener on Jan. 14 to Jacobs (12-9, 4-0).
Huntley faces a critical rematch at Jacobs Tuesday in what looks to be the most important game remaining on the FVC Valley schedule. A victory by the Red Raiders would pull them even with the Golden Eagles in the loss column. The other four teams in the Valley have at least 3 losses within the division.
"It would be nice to beat them just because it's Huntley vs. Jacobs," Red Raiders coach Marty Manning said. "I don't think there needs to be a conference championship on the line to make it any more significant."
Think pink: Tuesday's Jacobs-Huntley game in Algonquin (7 p.m.) will serve as a "pink out" fundraiser to benefit the family of Robin Brunschon, mother of Huntley guard Tyler Brunschon, during her battle against breast cancer.
Jacobs will donate all proceeds from the sales of flowers, memory notes, bracelets, pink T-shirts and the 50/50 raffle to the Brunschon family.