Huntley knocks off Jacobs in OT
A pair of senior leaders stepped to the forefront to lead the Huntley boys basketball team into first place Tuesday night.
Seniors Tyler Brunschon and Dylan Neukirch combined for 32 points — including Huntley’s final 16 points in regulation and overtime — to lead the Red Raiders past Jacobs 52-49 in a key matchup in the Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference.
The win was the season-best sixth straight for streaking Huntley (18-4, 6-1), which suffered its last defeat against Jacobs (12-10, 4-1) on Jan 14.
“It’s a nice win, but it’s just one conference game,” Brunschon said. “We have Dundee-Crown on Friday night. All the rest of the games will be tough.”
Jacobs led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter, but Huntley pulled within 25-22 at halftime, held the Golden Eagles to 9 points in the third quarter and 7 points in the fourth. The Red Raiders took their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Troy Miller (12 points) with 5:20 left to play.
However, Jacobs tied the game on a drive by Matt Ehrhardt (6 points) and regained the lead on a jump shot off the dribble by senior guard Mike Peterson (15 points).
Following a Huntley turnover with four minutes remaining, Jacobs seemed content to hold the ball with a 2-point lead. The Golden Eagles ran two minutes off the clock but were whistled for traveling in the post with 1:49 left.
“We just wanted to run it until we got our first good shot or until they had to foul us,” Jacobs guard Nick Hofman said. “And we did a pretty good job for a while, but we kind of messed it up.”
Huntley cashed in at the other end when Brunschon came off a Neukirch screen and canned a 3-pointer from the top of the arc for a 39-38 lead with 1:18 to play in regulation.
After a missed shot by Jacobs, Neukirch was fouled on the rebound and sank both ends of the bonus for a 41-38 lead.
However, Hofman (12 points) knotted the game with a three-point play on a teardrop layup off glass with 39 seconds on the clock.
Huntley ran a play for Brunschon with 10 seconds left in regulation, but it broke down and ended with Neukirch taking a desperation 3-pointer that fell short with a hand in his face.
However, Neukirch was the story of the overtime. A 58-percent free-throw shooter this season, the 6-foot-3 forward sank his first 2 attempts from the line in the extra period to give Huntley a 43-41 lead and he stayed hot. He sank 7-of-8 attempts in overtime and Brunschon sank all 4 of his free throws to account for all 11 of Huntley’s points in the extra session.
Neukirch bucked the percentages by sinking 11-of-12 free throws for the game.
“I was very pleased, especially with the way I’ve been shooting all season,” said Neukirch, who finished with a game-high 21 points.
Jacobs played an overtime game for the third time in four outings and lost its second straight
“We really can’t dwell on this,” Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle said. “We have to go to (Crystal Lake) South Friday night. It’s a matter of picking up the pieces, getting over our hurt feelings and owwies and coming back ready to play Friday.
“Nobody expected anyone to go undefeated in our conference. It’s pretty well balanced. Teams knock each other off, so no one expected to be undefeated. Each of us has beaten the other once. Now we go from here.”