Not too many positives in this Neuqua Valley win
This was one of those wins that didn't feel like a win.
Neuqua Valley allowed a 15-point lead after three quarters dwindle to a single point before beating Rockford Guilford 67-64 at the 37th annual Elgin Holiday Tournament at Chesbrough Fieldhouse.
"The only thing we can gain from this is we're moving on. We went right in the bracket, and that's a good thing," said Neuqua senior guard Tyler Sutton, who made five 3-point baskets and scored a game-high 25 points.
The 2010 tourney champion, Neuqua Valley (6-5) advanced to a second-round contest at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday against Harlan, a 56-38 winner over Larkin.
Todd Sutton, Wildcats coach and Tyler's father, did not strongly endorse Monday's opener.
"We definitely thought it was a disaster," he said. "Defensively we would not get in the way of the dribbler on his way to the basket, nor did we help the guy who got beat guarding the dribbler, nor did we get the weakside rebound when the guy drove to the basket. And then to add to that we fouled almost every time they got the offensive rebound. In terms of defense, that is as bad as it's ever been."
Up 15-9 after a quarter and leading handily 39-24 at halftime, Neuqua got positive contributions from Tyler Sutton, Jabari Sandifer, Darien Miskel, Nate Boudreau, Pat Kenny basically everybody who played.
Neuqua shot 14 of 25 in the first half, controlled the ball and tempo and matched the rebounding of the Guilford Vikings (4-7).
"I think we got too comfortable," Sandifer said, "and we started thinking that we were going to beat them and that they would just give up. But they came out with more intensity than us."
Guilford's Keffer Simpson, Juwan Hubbard and Marcus Hardison forced an up-tempo, back-and-forth game in the third quarter. Neuqua committed 7 third-quarter turnovers yet still led 57-42 entering the fourth on Sutton's 3 with two seconds left.
"We thought if we could get some pressure on them, make them make some hurried decisions that it'd give us a better chance to win," said Rockford Guilford coach Bobby Heisler. "That was our game plan coming in to the game and obviously in the second half our guys caught up a little bit with it and we were able to do some things effectively."
Forcing 8 more Neuqua turnovers in the fourth quarter, Guilford outscored the Wildcats 22-10, including a 20-6 run that had the Vikings within 63-62 on a Hubbard drive with 51 seconds to play.
Sutton pushed the lead to 65-62 on a pair of free throws. After missing two prior 1-and-1 chances, Peter Catchings hit 2 more foul shots, margin enough to allow Hubbard one last drive with five seconds left.
Sandifer scored 14 points and Kenny added 10 for the Wildcats. Hubbard's 16 points paced Guilford.
"We knew we played bad and we just need to do better tomorrow," Sandifer said. "And coach wasn't too happy with us, obviously."