Glassman, Fremd shoot down Huntley
Fremd guard Riley Glassman was rather surprised when Huntley did not foul him.
What didn't surprise him, however, was his 27-foot shot sailing through the hoop as time expired to give the Vikings a 41-40 nonconference boys basketball victory over host Huntley on Tuesday.
"It felt good when it left," said the sophomore guard. "I was surprised that they didn't foul me. I really thought it was going to come."
After driving up the court, Glassman (9 points) popped open on a double screen, but the option the Vikings (7-2) were hoping for was an inside look to tie the game with a layup.
Huntley (5-1) had taken a 40-38 lead when sophomore forward Amanze Egekeze (10 points, 2 blocks) made a pair of free throws after drawing a contact foul while cutting to the lane.
Fremd's Sean Benka (9 points) tied the game at 38 when he drove the lane and connected on a layup with 22 seconds left. That was the first tie since Huntley notched things up at 31 early in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings made their final 4 baskets of the game by pounding the ball down low.
The original setup for the final play was to again look underneath the hoop and give Glassman a chance to score. That plan was partly due to some news that came earlier in the day when Fremd coach Bob Widlowski found out that leading scorer Garrett Peters would not be available to play against Huntley. Peters is suffering from a foot infection, but may return as soon as Friday.
"We were trying to get ball screens for Riley up front," Widlowski said. "We wanted to get the ball in Riley's hands. We wanted to give a chance to get him to the rim."
Huntley's Bryce Only made his own opportunities at the rim.
The junior scored 9 of his 11 points in the final period, putting up all 3 of the Red Raiders' field goals. Only finished off a 3-point play with 6:23 left to tie the game at 31. He then gave the Red Raiders a lead with a steal and a bucket on the ensuing Fremd possession.
"Our defense kept us in the game," Only said. "We made plays on the defensive end and that helped us on offense."
The Viking had led 31-23 with 4:12 left in the third quarter, but Huntley kept Fremd scoreless for over eight minutes. The Vikings missed 6 straight shots during that span to allow Huntley to come back in the game.
The Red Raiders jumped out to a 14-10 first-quarter lead but were then held to 7 second-quarter points and just 8 in the third period. Huntley was 6 of 13 from the floor in the first quarter, but then went 6 of 18 over the next 2 quarters.
"In the second quarter, we had 8 possessions and just 1 shot," Red Raiders coach Marty Manning said. "We can't go on scoring droughts like that. We did a lot of good things in the second half. We did things that cost us the game in the second quarter."