Vernon Hills survives against Amundsen
Vernon Hills’ basketball fans have seen DaVaris Daniels drop plenty of points.
Wednesday, during the fourth quarter of the Cougars’ 60-44 win over 13th-seeded Amundsen in the teams’ Class 3A regional semifinal, the senior guard dropped plenty of blood.
From his nicked nose.
Drops and drops.
All over Vernon Hills’ court and out a gym door.
“He was bending over and then the next thing you know blood just started coming everywhere and exploded out on the ground,” Cougars pivot Brian Berzanski described colorfully. “The first thing I said was, ‘Don’t get it on your jersey.’ And then I was like, ‘Don’t step in it.’ ”
Daniels leaked so much blood from his nose that he left a trail leading down a long hallway and back to the trainer’s room.
He had collided with an Amundsen player under the Vikings’ basket.
“He kind of head-butted me in the nose when I was trying to penetrate,” Daniels said of the accidental contact. “It was gushing for a while.”
Enough blood spilled that the game was delayed several minutes so it could be wiped off the floor. With trainer Kirsten Rous home with her new baby girl, assistant athletic director Chris Curry slapped on surgical gloves and along with assistant principal Jon Guillaume helped towel up the mess.
“That’s about as much blood as I’ve seen spewed out in a while,” said coach Matt McCarty, who got a team effort of his own from his Cougars.
When Daniels left, Vernon Hills led 51-38 with 6:48 to go. When he returned to the game, with gauze shoved up his left nostril, 2½ minutes had ticked off the game clock. The home team still enjoyed a comfortable cushion.
“I reminded our guys that we had to play at Wheeling without DaVaris,” a smiling McCarty said of a Hardwood Classic-opening loss to Wheeling in late December, after Daniels got snowed in on the East Coast. “I was like, ‘We’ve been here before.’ ”
Where the Cougars are now is playing for a regional championship. Fourth-seeded Vernon Hills (17-10), which snapped a three-game losing streak, faces No. 5 Grayslake Central (16-12) at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Cougars lost on the Rams’ court (56-50) on Feb. 15.
The game figures to be more competitive than Vernon Hills’ contest against Amundsen (9-21), which spotted the hosts a 12-0 lead.
Berzanski’s 8 points had the Cougars up 18-8 after a quarter.
“We had great energy to start,” McCarty said. “We didn’t want anybody looking ahead to Friday night.”
Amundsen pulled within 26-20 late in the first half, but Vernon Hills closed with a 6-0 run on baskets by Stephen Curry, Daniels and M.J. Crowley.
“We wanted to execute,” Daniels said. “We feel we didn’t do a complete job of that, but for the most part it was pretty good. We pushed, got the ball up the floor and got some good looks and some nice attacks, and I think that’s what gave us the lead early.”
Daniels led all scorers with 17 points, including a one-handed dunk, and grabbed 6 rebounds. Berzanski and Darren Hoveydai added 11 points each, while Curry canned a 3-pointer and netted 10 points.
The 6-foot-5 Berzanski also pulled down 12 rebounds, giving the University of Central Missouri-bound football player a double-double.
“Our players did a good job of drawing attention,” Berzanski said, “and leaving me with easy baskets.”
Vincent Rivera paced Amundsen with 11 points.