Boys basketball: Mobley, Hoffman Estates finish with a flurry to top Buffalo Grove
Chris Mobley helped Hoffman Estates steal a win Friday.
Mobley came up with two huge steals and then converted them to baskets to finish with 22 points to help the Hawks escape with a 63-54 win over host Buffalo Grove Friday.
The win kept Hoffman (17-3) alone atop the MSL East, one game ahead of Schaumburg.
Mobley came up huge for the Hawks at multiple stages in the game. His two steals were in the final 1:20. They came right after Buffalo Grove (9-10, 3-3) had rallied from an 11-point deficit entering the fourth quarter.
“It was a career night for Chris Mobley,” Hoffman Estates coach Peter McBride said. “I was really proud of the way he did it with his leadership, his defense and picking his spots offensively.”
With the game tied at 53-53, Mobley stole the ball after a Buffalo Grove rebound after a Hoffman missed shot. Seconds later, he drilled a three from the corner to make it 56-53.
And when the Bison came down in an attempt to tie, Mobley picked up a loose ball and drove down for a basket for a layup to put the Hawks up by five. That ignited a 10-1 Hoffman run to close out the game.
“I was just living in the moment when they tied it up,” said Mobley, who is a senior. “We just had to execute. Our main scorer got in foul trouble early, so we just had to look within our guys. It was really next man up.”
Hoffman Estates star Torey Baskin, who averages 23 points a game, twice had to go to the bench in the first half with foul trouble. But Mobley was able to keep to Hawks close, scoring seven of his points in the first quarter as the Bison took a 14-10 lead.
Buffalo Grove was spurned on by its very vocal feeder program which was in attendance. That helped the Bison and Edwin Karnauchovas came out strong. Karnauchovas lead the way by bombing a pair of threes from the corner, and the Bison took a 24-14 with 3:35 left in the first half.
Hoffman Estates then began to lean heavily on its depth to get the Hawks back into the game. With Ramon Rasario (11 points) and Cam James (9 points) going strong to the basket and Niko Belesiotis (6 points) drilling a three-pointer, along with the defensive play of Bryce Smith (4 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks), the Hawks closed out the half on a 12-0 run to lead 26-24 at the break.
Baskin then came off the bench to begin to third quarter and the Hawks were off and flying. Baskin scored eight points as Hoffman went on a 13-3 run to open up a 39-27 lead.
“I got in foul trouble early, but I know the guys had my back,” said Baskin, who would finish with 14 points, all in the second half.
“I don’t think everybody really knows how good this team is individually and as a team. They are some dogs. They held it down when I was out and I was just telling the guys they could beat this team without me.”
But Buffalo Grove still had life, even when it trailed 45-34 after three quarters. Karnauchovas (24 points) drilled a trio of threes and Alex Sirbu (22 points, 15 rebounds) scored 11 of his points in the final quarter as the Bison batted back to tie it 53-53 with 1:49 to play.
But the Bison just couldn’t sustain the momentum.
“We really needed a big stop, a big loose ball and big rebound,” Buffalo Grove coach Kevin Geldon said. “And unfortunately, we just didn’t get those when we needed them. It really came down to those two runs.”