Huntley overcomes slow start, Marian Central
High school boys basketball games are played on wood and not paper for good reason.
On paper, Huntley was a heavy favorite to not only defeat but possibly blow out struggling Marian Central in a pool play game at the Jacobs Holiday Tournament Saturday morning.
The Red Raiders had won 5 of their first 6 ballgames, beaten only by Fremd's 27-foot buzzer beater Tuesday. Also, rested Huntley was idle Friday.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes limped in with a 1-9 mark, just 13 hours removed from a 14-point loss to Wheaton Academy.
But when high-tops met wood, the energetic Hurricanes thoroughly outplayed Huntley for the first eight minutes. They jumped to a 21-8 advantage after one quarter and still held a 36-30 lead heading to the final period.
It wasn't until senior Justin Frederick and sophomore Amanze Egekeze came alive in the second half that Huntley was able to overtake the 'Canes and escape with a 54-50 victory. The Red Raiders grabbed their first lead of the game on a basket by Egekeze with 4:49 to play in the fourth quarter.
"I don't think our guys fully understand that other teams really want to beat us," said Huntley coach Marty Manning, whose program became the local benchmark after reaching the Sweet 16 in Class 4A last season. "We're kind of going through the motions and hoping that eventually our talent will beat their talent. That's not the way you can play basketball, especially at the high school level where the games are so short."
Marian Central shot lights out for the first eight minutes, when the sank 9 of 13 first-quarter attempts. Dustin Daily connected on 4 baskets for 10 points to lead the early charge.
"We had a tough loss (Friday) night, so we wanted to come out hard and I think we did that in the first half, " Marian Central point guard Ross Langlois said. "We played extremely good defense and our shots were going down."
The Red Raiders sank 3 of 11 first-quarter shots. The more telling statistic? The Hurricanes outrebounded Huntley 10-1 in the opening quarter and 14-8 in the first half.
That stat flipped in Huntley's favor in the second half, 16-10, thanks mainly to the sheer will of Frederick and Egekeze. Frederick grabbed 9 of his 10 rebounds and scored 12 of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Likewise, Egekeze pulled down all 4 of his rebounds and scored 10 of his 12 points after halftime.
"We just weren't there mentally," Egekeze said of his team's sluggish first half. "It only took two full, good quarters of basketball to beat this team. I think that's the biggest thing. We were that much better than them that all we had to do was be locked in for a good 10 minutes earlier on and we would have blown them out.
"This is a (1-10) team, but every team is going to give us their best. They came out and played us as hard as they could. I think we need to execute better. Everyone was trying to win the game themselves in the beginning."
Marian Central led 36-26 with 2:15 left in the third quarter, but Huntley embarked on an 18-3 push to take the lead. Egekeze scored 3 baskets to fuel the surge, including the go-ahead scoop layup with 4:49 left.
The Hurricanes stayed within 48-45 on Matt Yuk's second 3-pointer in as many possessions, but Frederick canned a long jumper and junior Bryce Only was subsequently fouled on a strong drive to the hoop. Only's 2 free throws with 50 seconds left put Huntley ahead 52-45. He finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
Huntley resumes pool play Monday against Prairie Ridge at 4:30 p.m. Marian Central faces Lake Zurich Monday at 6 p.m.