Hersey guts one out over Barrington

Hersey was down even though it ended up on the scoreboard in Saturday night's Mid-Suburban League boys basketball crossover at Barrington.

And the 4-4 Huskies didn't find much thrilling about their 51-49 victory where Barrington had shots to take the lead and force overtime in the final 12 seconds.

"The only thing consistent is our inconsistency," said Hersey coach Steve Messer, whose team lost a late 10-point lead and 2-point game to Buffalo Grove on Thursday.

"We kind of gutted it out," said Hersey junior guard Connor Miklasz. "It was a bad win but at least we got it.

"After a tough loss we wanted to get a big win and prove to ourselves we can play in this conference. But we didn't do that today and we took a step backward."

Especially when Barrington (3-5) shot out to a 19-12 lead after a quarter as James Stack (14 points) hit 3 of his four 3-pointers.

"I definitely feel like we took a step forward tonight despite the outcome," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. "We can see progress but were trying to work on consistency.

"I'm definitely proud of the effort. These kids battle."

A Stack 3 and reverse off a rebound by Ben Bartz got Barrington even at 43-43 with 4:39 left. Miklasz found Tom Sutrinaitis (10 points) off an inbound for a layup and hit 2 free throws to put Hersey ahead to stay.

Miklasz also helped limit Barrington scoring leader Bryan Wegner to 11 of his 17-point average.

"He started to play and do what he can do," Messer said. "He's not completely there yet and he needs to be."

Miklasz hit 2 free throws for a 50-47 lead with 46 seconds left but Bartz found Wegner for a layup off an inbound with 14 seconds left. Wegner forced a turnover in the backcourt but Stack's open 15-footer off the inbound was just a touch long.

Jordan Mertes split 2 free throws with 9.9 seconds left. Wegner missed a spinning drive in heavy and physical traffic and Bartz's desperation, off-balance heave at the buzzer was blocked by Brian Fabrizius (8 points).

"We got some good looks," Tucker said. "I thought we could have done a better job earlier in the game so we weren't relying on having to knock down shots late."

Kyle Miklasz scored 10 points and Justin Jobski added 9 points for Hersey.

"We've got a lot of talent and size," Connor Miklasz said. "Now we need to use it."