Boys basketball: Martin’s 34 points, Balgro’s late putback give Neuqua Valley exciting win over Hersey
According to Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton, it had been a quarter-century since his program last played Hersey, which is in its second year under longtime coaching rival Bob Widlowski.
“Bob and I, we’ve battled for years,” Sutton said. “So it’s a lot of fun. We’re here for fun.”
Fun was the best way to describe the meeting Saturday for the second of four games at Glenbrook South’s first Hoops Against Hate Showcase.
It came down to the wire, and Neuqua Valley emerged victorious, 68-65, in its final tuneup before hosting a rematch with rival Waubonsie Valley on Friday.
The Wildcats (24-1) and Huskies (16-6) battled back and forth throughout and even appeared to be tied at 52 going into the fourth quarter. However, it was discovered that an earlier Huskies basket should not have counted as a 3-pointer, so the Wildcats had a 52-51 lead instead.
The scoring change proved to make the end more exciting. With the game tied at 65 in the final minute, Luke Balgro scored on a putback to put Neuqua Valley up by two with 25.6 seconds left, and Hersey called a timeout.
“He does it all the time,” said Sutton. “I don’t know how long his arms are, but he gets these offensive rebounds. Most of the time, he doesn’t even jump, and he puts it back in. I don’t know how he does it, so we’re used to it. He does it all the time.”
The Huskies then took the ball up court, and after the Wildcats used one of their fouls to give, they forced the Huskies to burn their final timeout with 12.6 seconds remaining when they couldn’t inbound underneath the basket.
When play resumed, a go-ahead 3-point attempt by Charlie Pomis went in and out, and Carter Coviello was fouled off the rebound. Coviello missed his first free throw and made the second, giving Hersey a sliver of hope with 4.8 seconds to go.
Trying to force overtime with the Wildcats playing full-court defense, Jake Nawrot fired a prayer from half-court as the buzzer sounded, but it clanged off the rim.
Neuqua Valley junior and recent Illinois commit Mason Martin outshone everyone with 34 points, including six 3-pointers. Cole Kelly was held scoreless in the third quarter but added 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
By scoring the game-winning basket, Balgro completed a double-double of 11 points and 11 boards.
Andrew Hoffmann didn’t score off the bench but led the Wildcats with five assists.
“Everybody played really well,” said Martin. “All the starters (and) the guys off the bench just rebounding and knowing their role really well. Playing defense, too.”
Logan Luxem paced the Huskies with 21 points, which included four 3-pointers in the first half. He also led Hersey with five assists and four steals.
Nawrot had 14 points and a team-high eight boards. Eli Leyva came off the Huskies’ bench and scored nine of his 11 points on three 3-pointers, one of which he made as he was fouled in the fourth.
“I think that we showed tonight that we can play with anybody around,” said Widlowski. “But we’re not interested in keeping the score close. We’re disappointed we didn’t win the contest tonight. I thought we had a chance to win the game on a couple of different occasions.”