South Elgin, Hampshire notch victories
Kyle Osborne sat on the bench for the South Elgin boys basketball team the entire first half Saturday night.
When coach Chaz Taft called on him in the third quarter Osborne was ready and didn't hesitate.
Osborne hit a key 3-pointer the first time he touched the ball to increase the Storm's lead to six and that propelled South Elgin to a 52-42 nonconference home victory over Vernon Hills.
"It's great to be ready to come off the bench and be ready to go," Osborne said. "I feel confident because I was doing last year too."
The Storm (8-8) led 23-19 at halftime and came out in the second half looking to get the ball inside to 6-foot-9 center Daniel Lopez. Lopez scored 6 points in the opening 3:15 of the half. The Cougars (7-8) began collapsing their defense on Lopez, who finished with a team-high 12 points. Taft called on Osborne. With the Storm leading 33-30, Osborne nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner to give South Elgin a 36-30 advantage.
"Kyle Osborne was a spark off the bench," Taft said. "He hit that big three when they were sagging off (Lopez) and concentrating on the post."
Osborne added a reverse layup and another layup off a Jordan Dobler steal early in the fourth quarter as the Storm took control.
South Elgin led 39-35 entering the fourth and Osborne baskets, which came 20 seconds apart, made the score 45-37 with 5:15 remaining.
Vernon Hills never got closer than 5, 45-40, the remainder of the game.
The Cougars made only 1 field goal in the fourth quarter. That came with 3.9 seconds remaining by Kenny Rideout, who scored a game-high 17 points and added 7 rebounds. They also committed 6 turnovers in the quarter.
"All of our action was taking place too far from the basket," Vernon Hills coach Matt McCarty said. "We went stagnant for a while there."
Only four Vernon Hills players scored. Davaris Daniels had 12. Riaz Hoveydai added 10.
Lopez added 7 rebounds to go with his 12 points. Alex Sanchez and Jeffrey Lewis each added 9. Osborne and Josh Glenn had 7 as the Storm had plenty of scoring balance.
"We wanted to come with a lot of energy and attack," Lewis said. "It's starts in warmups and carried throughout the game."
Hampshire 49, Marengo 30: When Hampshire's T.J. Burzak missed several games with an injury, the Whip-Purs saw some other players take on bigger roles. Now that Burzak is back, those players have continued to play a bigger part, making the Whips stronger as a whole.
Several of those players figured prominently in Hampshire's 49-30 win at Marengo. It was the Whips' third straight victory as they moved to 2-1 in the Big Northern East.
Evan Brenner scored 14 points, Will Bush had 11 points and 6 rebounds, and Justin Bieber scored 9 points for Hampshire.
Burzak, as usual, was a big factor with 12 points and 6 rebounds.
Hampshire, 6-8 overall, outscored the hosts 11-2 in the fourth quarter to pull away.
"The young kids have found their niche, they're stepping up," said Hampshire coach Bob Barnett. "When T.J. went down, the young guys didn't have a crutch any more and they had to start showing what they could do. Now that he's back, they're still playing that way."
One of those "young guys," Brenner, has taken on more of a leadership role. Barnett called him his fifth assistant coach.
"It was a good team effort tonight," said Brenner. "'We tried to get it to whoever was feeling it."
Hampshire never trailed. Brenner's 3-pointer on the Whips' first possession got them off on the right foot. They slowly built the lead until the Hampshire defense clamped down in the final period.
The Indians missed their first 6 shots of the quarter before both coaches cleared their benches.
Troy Appelhans had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Marengo and Brett Hall added 8 points, but the rest of the roster combined for just 10 points.
Leading just 26-22 early in the third quarter, Hampshire went on a 9-2 run. Brenner scored on a backdoor layup and a 3-pointer. After Appelhans scored for Marengo, Bush made 2 free throws and Burzak scored inside as Hampshire opened a 35-24 lead.
-- Allen Oshinski
St. Francis 64, St. Edward 61: St. Francis junior guard David Palash had already taken two shots prior to his final field-goal attempt Saturday night, yet neither had as much riding on them as the 3-pointer he launched with 59 seconds remaining in the game.
Following his coaches' instructions to shoot when he hit the floor, Palash drained a momentum-changing 3-point shot just inside of the final minute, ultimately sealing the Spartans' 64-61 victory over St. Edward in Wheaton.
"When I got off the bench, my coach told me I had to shoot when I got in there," Palash said. "When I got the ball, I just put it up there.
"They brought me in for defense, but he told me I would sit if I didn't shoot."
Palash's shot took a precarious 60-59 lead and gave St. Francis some breathing room in the form of a 4-point advantage -- room that proved essential. After a turnover against the Green Wave full-court press, the Spartans withstood a quality look at a 3 from Josh Dix, and ultimately fought off a similar shot from Brett Manning to clinch the win.
"Unfortunately we didn't knock the shots down," St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek said. "We had two great looks at the end.
"Josh had a good look with 14 seconds left. (Dix and Manning) are the guys that are going to shoot the ball. Next time it will go in."
St. Francis (8-4, 4-1) took control of the game at the start, jumping out to a quick 14-6 lead by hitting 6 of their first 8 shots from the floor.
St. Edward (6-10, 0-6 Suburban Catholic Conference) fought back, though, climbing to 33-27 at halftime and seizing a 39-36 lead with 4:44 remaining in the third quarter.
According to Spartans senior Brian McMahon, St. Edward clawed its way back in the game by outhustling St. Francis in the third quarter.
"They were just hitting a lot of shots, and we just weren't getting a lot of things going," McMahon, who scored a game-high 23 points, said. "They were playing with a lot more energy."
Chuipek stressed energy to his players before the game, assuring them that if the effort comes, so too will their first conference victory of the season.
"Tonight I just said, 'If you go out and play hard (against) a good program … you're going to get yourself in the ballgame,' " Chuipek said.
-- Matthew McClarey
Westminster Christian 74, Elgin Academy 44: A 7-day layoff could have made the Westminster Christian boys basketball team rusty.
It could have.
Instead the Warriors opened up Saturday's nonconference game at Elgin Academy shooting 70.8 percent (17 of 24) in the first half. The high-rolling offense scored 48 points in the first half en route to a 74-44 victory.
"We came out the way I wanted us to in the first half," Westminster coach Bruce Firchau said. "We took it straight to them."
The Warriors (10-3) made their first 5 shots with Cory Hodge (12 points) and Tyler Beachler (16 points) each making a pair of baskets. Elgin Academy (2-13) turned the ball over 8 times in the first quarter, which led to a 26-8 Westminster lead after the first 8 minutes.
"We wanted to come out strong," said Warriors' forward Joel Benson, who finished with 9 of his 16 points in the first quarter. "(The first quarter) gave us a lift. It gave us confidence."
Benson recorded 4 of his 6 steals in the first quarter. The senior finished the game 7 of 11 from the floor and added 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Sophomore Ryan Bleacher added 10 points off the bench for the Warriors, who led 48-21 at halftime.
The Warriors, who have won 8 of their last 9, are hoping that the confidence will ride into their tough week ahead. Westminster travels to both Genoa-Kingston and Chicago Christian, but hope the winning trend continues.
Westminster made 3-straight 3-pointers in the second quarter, with Tyler Beachler (5 assists) making it 32-11. Hodge (4 steals, 2 assists) then extended the lead to 35-13 after making back-to-back 3-pointers on consecutive trips down the court.
Where it was Westminster's hot start which fueled its victory, Elgin Academy was pleased with the way it finished the contest. The Hilltoppers scored 17 of their 44 points in the final 8 minutes, with Alex Osinga scoring 6. Osinga and Drew Stuart led Elgin Academy with 8 points apiece.
Elgin Academy went 6 of 11 from the floor in the fourth quarter. Elgin Academy shot just 33 percent in the first 3 periods. The Hilltoppers shot 42.8 (6 of 14) from 3-point land. Elgin Academy got a pair of 3-pointers from freshman Aaron Thomas (6 points).
"In the fourth quarter we did much better," Elgin Academy coach Everette Stephens said. "When you're able to go out and finish strong, it says a lot about your character."
-- Matt Stacionis
Dundee-Crown 50, Grayslake North 48: A long Christmas break layoff didn't appear to affect Grayslake North's shooting coming into its Fox Valley Conference crossover game with Dundee-Crown. For three quarters, the Knights shot lights out.
Leading by 3 heading into the fourth, the Knights (3-9), after going on a 12-5 run starting the second half and forcing Dundee-Crown to shoot 12-for-28 all game, needed to keep their composure to come away with a win.
But that's when the Chargers' shooting came alive.
The Chargers (6-6) hit 7 of their 10 shots in the fourth, forced 4 turnovers and hit two critical 3-point shots, flipping the switch and coming from behind to defeat the Knights 50-48 in a Fox Valley Conferennce crossover in Carpentersville Saturday night.
Chargers coach Lance Huber couldn't think of a way to describe the win, just as one of those ugly games that you can't be mad with the outcome.
"We were fortunate enough to pull this one out," said Huber. "It was a weird game; we never got into rhythm."
With Grayslake North leading 23-20 as time ran out in the first half, Justin Strzelczyk hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the half tied at 23.
After halftime, Grayslake North came out firing, hitting its first 6 shots to increase its lead to 5 thanks to baskets from Clay Henricksen and Tony Herman. Herman finished with a team-high 13 points and 12 rebounds.
"They were hotter than a firecracker," Huber said.
Apparently, the firecracker burned out, though, and the Chargers started their own firework show.
The Chargers got a lift from Jeff Beck and Greg McNally, both hitting 3-pointers in a stretch where the Chargers hit 4 of their first 5 shots to open the fourth, giving the Chargers a 3-point lead.
In that same stretch, the Knights, who were hot all game, missed 10 consecutive shots, shooting just 4 of 14 in the quarter.
"We had our opportunities when we were three feet away; we had four chances at putbacks, they just weren't going in," said Knights coach Todd Runloh.
After Charles Kimbrough put D-C up 5 with a jumper in the lane, Beck stole the ball and led a breakaway for a layup, giving the Chargers a 7-point lead that sealed the game.
"I saw the guy looking over at him and I jumped the pass," said Beck.
"It really gave us the cushion we needed," said Huber.
Beck led all scorers with 14 points and Kimbrough added 10 for the Chargers.
-- Steve Nichols
CL South 58, Huntley 50: Crystal Lake South took Huntley's best punch, got off the canvas and won the bout.
The Gators overcame a 12-2 run by the Red Raiders in the third quarter and were able to escape with a 58-50 win in a Fox Valley Conference crossover win in Crystal Lake Saturday night.
"Huntley really came out and played hard in the third quarter," said Crystal Lake South coach Dan DeBruycker. "But we did a good job of hanging in there and we immediately went on a run of our own."
Securing a 28-14 halftime lead, the Gators watched helplessly as the Red Raiders sliced the 14-point deficit to 4 with 2:11 left in the quarter.
It was Dan Regan who did most of the damage for the Red Raiders (10-5).
Regan, who scored 10 points including two 3-pointers, helped Huntley get within 30-26.
"I didn't think we played that badly in the first half," said Huntley coach Marty Manning. "They made some tough shots. I wasn't displeased with the effort. We came out with a lot of energy in the third quarter."
But the Gators (8-5) settled down and ended the third quarter with a 9-2 run.
A 3-pointer by Wesley Evans right before end of the third quarter gave South a 39-28 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
The Gators extended the lead to 48-34 after a layup by Chris Reuter with 4:10 left.
In the first quarter, Huntley got off to a 6-2 lead after a layup by Diego Quintero with 6:12 left. Those would be the last points the Red Raiders would score for nearly 9 minutes. The Gators ended the first quarter on a 12-0 run. Mike Brockway's 3 at the buzzer gave South a 14-6 after 8 minutes.
The Gators kept the momentum going into the first 3 minutes of the second quarter.
Threes by Reuter and Eric Wilde gave the Gators a 20-6 lead to complete a 18-0 run.
"We had great ball pressure defensively during that run and offensively we had great ball reversal," said DeBruycker. "We don't have a superstar and we had a lot of kids really step up.
Wilde led a balanced Gator attack with 13. Zack Carpenter scored 11 and Evans 10.
"We really upped the defensive pressure during that run," said Carpenter. "I thought we held them scoreless for awhile. We have such balance on offensive. We have a different high scorer every game."
Quintero led Huntley with 14 while Regan scored 13, 10 in the third quarter.
-- Dave Hess
Cary-Grove 67, Johnsburg 43: The Trojans (9-5) jumped on top early and never looked back earning a victory at home Saturday night. Ben Jacquier started Cary-Grove off by scoring 11 of his 15 points in the first quarter to led all scorers. Mark Tometich and Alex Jordan also scored in double figures adding 10 points a piece in the win.