Fenwick downs Jacobs 66-57
The lead dangled in front of Jacobs like a carrot, so tantalizing close the Golden Eagles could almost feel beta carotene surging through their veins.
But they never got a bite.
Jacobs pulled within a point of Fenwick's lead once in the third quarter and within 2 points of the Friars twice in the final period but could never get over the hump.
Fenwick always had an answer and pulled away in the final minutes for a 66-57 nonconference victory at the 11th Annual Meijer High School Hoops Showdown at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates on Saturday night.
"We got within one possession of the lead several times, but we never made that next play, usually on the defensive end," Jacobs coach Jim Hinkle said. "We could never get that defensive stop we needed to take the lead.
"We couldn't take it that next step. I'm pretty disappointed."
The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for Jacobs (15-2), which grabbed an early 8-2 lead before Fenwick (12-5) rallied for 11 straight points and finished the first quarter with a 13-11 lead.
The teams mostly traded baskets from that point forward. Jacobs took its last lead of the game with 4:55 left in the second quarter when John Moran scored on a fadeaway in the lane for an 18-16 advantage.
Fenwick led by as many as 7 points midway through the third quarter, but Jacobs stayed close behind 19 points and 7 assists from John Moran, 13 points and 10 rebounds by center Conrad Krutwig and 12 points from forward Tim Moran.
But the Golden Eagles never got the big defensive stops when they needed them against Fenwick's talented guard trio of Derek Tartt (18 points) Xavier Humphrey (17) and Michael Black (12).
Jacobs pulled within 47-45 when Krutwig split 2 free throws with 5:06 to play, but John Comfort sank a free throw and Black transformed a John Moran turnover into 2 easy points in transition.
The Golden Eagles trailed by 5 points midway through the fourth quarter before Jacobs forward Zack Peterson scored on a drive to the basket and was fouled. He missed that free throw and John Moran split a pair on Jacobs' next possession to close within 50-48 with 3:38 remaining.
But Humphrey was fouled on Fenwick's next possession and sank both freebies. Tartt -- John Moran's AAU teammate for the last two years with the Illinois Wolves -- subsequently canned a long 2-pointer to ignite an 8-2 run that tipped the game in favor of the Friar's, who switched to a zone defense with three minutes remaining in the game.
"Fenwick is a great team that plays great defense," said John Moran, who shot 7 of 21 from the field. "I just feel we didn't give our best effort defensively, offensively too. They didn't let us get as many open shots as we would have liked."