Boys basketball: Hersey handles Huntley in Widlowski’s debut as Huskies coach
The first test of a new era of Hersey boys basketball came midway through the third quarter in Monday’s opener of the 15th annual Ed Molitor Thanksgiving Classic at Palatine.
Huntley sliced a 12-point halftime deficit to 5 on Will Dillon’s steal and drive and first-year Hersey coach Bob Widlowski called a timeout.
The Huskies responded in a manner similar to the way Fremd did for nearly 400 victories during Widlowski’s 22-year tenure. They calmly answered with 7 consecutive points and pulled away to a 65-43 victory in the five-day, eight-team tourney.
“When coach called the timeout he told us to slow down,” said Hersey junior guard Charlie Pomis, who had a game-high 24 points, shot 5-for-6 on 3-pointers and had 6 rebounds and 3 assists. “From there we played great to the end of the game.”
Hersey’s 19-5 burst opened a 56-37 lead with five minutes left and Huntley never got closer than 16 points.
“I would mainly say it was our preparation in practice for stressful situations,” said Hersey 6-foot-7 senior Jackson Hupp after scoring 15 points. “We all relied on each other and stuck together as a pack and trusted guys to make the right reads.”
Senior guard Brody Variano added 11 points for the Huskies and junior guard Logan Luxem had 7 points and 4 assists. They played the percentages for success rates of 59.4 from the field (19-for-32), 79 on free throws (19-for-24) and 57 beyond the arc (8-for-14).
“We were particularly pleased with the effort and focus tonight,” said Widlowski, who has former Hoffman Estates coach Luke Yanule as his assistant. “It’s a new system and the kids executed it very well for the first game out.
“That was the first thing we talked about, when they cut it to 5, was how they kept their composure. We got a couple of good possessions on defense and offense linked together.”
Huntley’s relatively inexperienced team made some nice adjustments to cut into a 34-22 halftime deficit. Christian Wilson (14 points on 6-for-16 shooting) got a backdoor layup off a Sheldon Aninagyei Bonsu (9 rebounds) feed and Wilson found 6-7 Logan Darragh (9 points, 5 rebounds) on a backcut in the first four minutes of the third.
The Red Raiders also had a 28-18 rebound edge in their first trip to the tourney but couldn’t overcome shooting 34.6 from the field (18-for-52) and 4-for-20 on 3s.
“I felt like we were reaching from a distance for most of the game,” said Huntley coach Collin Kalamatas. “We were in a tough spot because we let them dictate the physicality of the game. I thought we came out with a better response in the second half but Hersey has a lot of really nice players.”
In the second game, Aidan Bardic had 21 points as Stevenson beat Lake Park 44-36. Freddy Battaglia led the Lancers with 17.