Huntley claims Strombom crown
Huntley knew it needed to stop Hampshire's Tyler Watzlawick and Sarwan Kahn if it was going to win.
The Red Raiders, despite a severe height disadvantage, managed to stop the two Hampshire big men from being much of a factor. Without inside scoring, Hampshire fell 54-46 to Huntley in the championship game of the Leland G. Strombom Boys Basketball Tournament at Sycamore. Huntley last won the tournament championship in 2006.
"We did a good job with our man-to-man defense," Red Raiders' coach Marty Manning said. "Our posts did a great job fronting and our guards did a good job helping. We knew where they wanted to score from."
Huntley (3-0) was able to score in bunches from beyond the 3-point line during the first 3 quarters. Huntley opened the game with three 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a 14-10 lead. All-tournament selection Dylan Neukirch (11 points, 4 assists) nailed 2 long range shots in the opening period, and all-tourney choice Tyler Brunschon connected once in the first quarter and twice more in the third period as Huntley went up 41-24 by the start of the fourth quarter. The Red Raiders went 7 of 13 from 3-point land in the opening 3 periods.
"It was frustrating," Hampshire coach Bob Barnett said. "They had four shooters. We had to get out on their shooters. "
Hampshire (2-1) did make things interesting in the final period, scoring 22 points. All-tournament selection Justin Bieber finished with 15 of his 22 points in the final period as he brought the Whip-Purs within 51-44 after a he took a steal and scored.
Hampshire finished the fourth quarter going 46.6 percent (7 of 15) from the floor, but shot just 31 percent (9 of 29) during the first 3 quarters.
Watzlawick, an all-tournament selection, and Khan finished with just 4 points each.
"We were helping to front the posts," said Brunschon, who finished with 18 points. "We wanted to make their big guys guard us. We wanted to drive and pass."
Bryce Only finished with 3 steals and was also named to the all-tournament team for Huntley.