VH gets the message in bounce-back win

Calls to Nate Rathod’s phone went directly to voice mail on Friday night.

After a painful 2-point loss to Grant on senior night, the Vernon Hills guard didn’t want to hear from anyone. The Cougars were the victims of a buzzer-beater and Rathod wasn’t happy about that, or his own play.

“I was pretty down,” Rathod said. “It was a tough loss and I had this turnover at the end and it turned into a 5-point swing and (Grant) was able to come back and tie the game.

“I felt so bad. I turned off my phone when I got home.”

The phone was back on Saturday night, ready to receive calls. A 54-42 North Suburban Conference Prairie Division victory over host Antioch is something Rathod was eager to chat about, especially since he played a big role in securing it.

Rathod, a junior reserve sharpshooter, came off the bench and hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to steal momentum from Antioch and turn a tenuous 4-point Vernon Hills lead into a much more comfortable 10-point cushion.

“If I get a good shot, I’m going to take it, with confidence,” said Rathod, who finished with 9 points on 3 3-pointers. “When we got that breathing room, that helped us out.”

Vernon Hills, which improves to 13-10 overall and 6-5 in the Prairie, was breathing fairly easily early on.

The Cougars, who got 10 first-half points from junior guard Stephen Curry, out-scored Antioch (4-19, 0-11 Prairie) 23-10 in the second quarter to take a commanding 16-point advantage (33-17) into the locker room at halftime.

But the Sequoits followed the same script they’ve used for most of their games this season. Despite digging a big hole, Antioch put together a rally that made things interesting, at least temporarily.

By outscoring Vernon Hills 17-5 in the third quarter, the Sequoits cut their deficit to just 4 points (38-34) with a quarter remaining.

“We do this way too much and it’s beyond old,” Antioch coach Jim White said. “We’re not good enough to dig big holes like that. But the third quarter … I can’t be upset with any of our guys. They were working as hard as they could.”

Antioch big men Joe Lombardo and Austin Vogel were laboring during the rally for rebounds and positioning inside. They combined to score the last 6 points of the third quarter.

“We planned to feed the post more, we wanted to get it inside,” said Lombardo, who finished with 6 points. “We had no energy at the beginning of the game. But we came out of halftime and started playing the way we should be playing.”

But not only did the Cougars cut Antioch’s momentum off at the knees with Rathod’s back-to-back 3-pointers at the beginning of the fourth, they gained some momentum themselves. They opened the period with a 14-2 run.

Curry hit 4-of-6 free throws in the fourth quarter to help cinch the victory. He finished with a game-high 18 points.

Vernon Hills also got 12 points from senior guard Darren Hoveydai. Antioch was led by Karl Nettgen, who dropped in 9 points.

“Nate (Rathod) stepped up really big for us,” Curry said. “He hit some really big shots. He came out ready to play today.

“We just all wanted to bring intensity today. Some guys had their heads down after last night. We put (the Grant) game behind us.”