Boys basketball: Hersey starts fast in regional win over Meadows

After a pair of close games with Rolling Meadows earlier this year, Hersey wanted to make sure they started quickly against the Mustangs.

The Huskies did just that and never let up as Hersey blew past Meadows 62-36 Friday in the Class 4A regional final at Prospect.

Hersey (20-7), seeded third, advances to the the Frend sectionals where they will meet second-seeded Palatine at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Palatine advanced by slipping past Barrington 44-42.

In their previous meetings this season, Hersey and Meadows split their two games. Hersey won the first meeting by five and lost to Meadows by two in a pair of low scoring games.

But Hersey made sure that Friday’s game was not a repeat, with the Huskies exploding offensively. They shot 67 percent (22-of-33) from the floor and converted 14-of-16 free throws as the Huskies never trailed.

“I think we picked a good time to have one of best games of the season,” said Hersey coach Bob Widlowski, who has coached the Huskies to consecutive regional titles.

“We have been building towards this. I thought we did a nice job defensively and that we executed offensively.”

Hersey did a great job of attacking Meadows’ zone from the opening tip. Logan Luxem set the tone by getting inside early for a basket and then knocking down a three as Hersey jumped to a 5-0 lead.

“It was out while emphasis not to start down,” said Luxem, who finished with 11 points. “That was the whole scouting report. We couldn’t get down because then they could sit in their zone.”

With Luxem and Jake Nawrot leading the way, the Huskies went 6-for-8 including a pair of threes as they opened up a 16-8 lead after one quarter.

With that duo putting defensive pressure on the Mustangs, Hersey went looking at a different avenue to score. Charlie Pomis scored 8 of his 16 points in the second quarter as Hersey increased its lead to 28-15 at the half.

“I feel like we started the strongest,” Pomis said. “And then we kept trying to keep that going the whole game. I’m glad we got to finish the game from start to finish.”

Meadows (18-13) got three-pointers from Andrew Krestel, who led the Mustangs with 12 points, and Ben Babula. That got Meadows back in a for a bit at 29-21.

But that’s as close as the Mustangs would get. Sparked by Jake Nawrot, Hersey went on a 14-5 run to lead 43-26 lead just before the end of the third quarter.

“I think we had that humble confidence going into today,,” said Nawrot, who finished with 16 points. “We knew we could take care of business as long as we were disciplined and executed.”

It was tough end to a better than expected season for Meadows.

The Mustangs came into the season after graduating their top 8 players a year ago. They then dropped their season opener to Evanston by 50 points.

But the players pulled together and grew up quickly together to win 18 games while playing in the highly competitive MSL West for the first time.

“For this group to go out and win 18 games is just a credit to our senior class,” Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. “They got out every ounce of their abilities. And the sim was better than the parts, I am going to miss them tremendously.”