Sinik steps up, leads Streamwood past Jacobs
With senior standout Keenon Cole plagued with foul trouble all night, Nikola Sinik realized he needed to step up in Cole's absence.
Sinik rescued Streamwood with 20 points including three 3-pointers to lead the Sabres to a 63-52 win over host Jacobs in second round action of the Hinkle Holiday Classic in Algonquin Wednesday night.
"We know it is a challenge for our team when Keenon goes out of the game," said Sinik. "We have to execute, be smart and stay aggressive. I felt confident with my shot and got good looks. It was a good win."
Cole, despite playing most of the fourth quarter with 4 fouls, ended with 18 points, 12 rebounds and a resounding tomahawk dunk to end the game.
"I knew I still had to be careful in the fourth quarter with 4 fouls but stay aggressive," said Cole. "My teammates especially Nikola really stepped up and played great. It was a great win after the King loss. We know we have a tough game with Grant tomorrow coming up."
Streamwood (5-8) picked up the win despite 21 turnovers.
"Jacobs plays hard and forced some of those turnovers," said Streamwood coach Kent Payne. "Give Jacobs credit. We had a lot of unforced turnovers and mental lapses. We need to clean some things up. We let them get back in the game but we made plays when we had to."
Streamwood's biggest lead of the game was 40-24 after a long 3 from the corner by Sinik with 2:46 left in the third quarter.
The Golden Eagles (5-8) refused to quit.
Spearheaded by 5 points from Jaden Henderson including a trey and 4 points from reserve sophomore guard James Hayes, the Eagles ended the third quarter on a 10-3 run and sliced the Sabre lead to 43-34 after 24 minutes.
With Cole on the bench, Jacobs started the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run keyed by 3s from Henderson and Jalen Ramsey to make the score 43-40 with 5:10 left.
The Eagles couldn't get any closer.
Henderson paced Jacobs with 13 points including a 3.
"We didn't make enough winning plays," said Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts. "We played very poor defense in the first half. We mucked things up in the second half and got some turnovers."
Roberts was impressed with the play of sophomores Hayes, Robert Pennel, Zach Leahy, Max Stec and junior Riley Anderson.
"Our young guys played well," said the Jacobs coach. "Zach Leahy came in and hit some shots. Robert Pennel, who came out of the game concussed played very hard. James Hayes came in and made some things happen. Max Stec played hard and gave us some good minutes. RJ (Riley Anderson) had some great shot fakes and got some key baskets. The play of the young guys was certainly a positive."