Reszotko helps Hersey past Wheeling
Not many 6-foot guards go to the glass as hard as Hersey’s Sean Reszotko did Friday night in Arlington Heights. Reszotko came away with a dozen rebounds to help lead Hersey past Wheeling 58-36 in Mid-Suburban East play.
“I was tracking the ball well off of the rim,” said Reszotko, who also had 12 points to go with his top-notch rebounding effort. “It was then just putting myself in good position and of course, boxing out.”
Hersey coach Steve Messer was pleased with the way his team collectively went to the glass as the Huskies won the battle of the boards 39-23.
“It was the best thing we did all night,” Messer said. “We got a lot of extra shots and did a great job on the defensive end.”
Hersey (9-11, 5-3) used a big second quarter to pull away from Wheeling.
The Huskies, who led 12-11 after one quarter, turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter. Hersey’s man-to man defense kept Wheeling (1-20, 0-8) from getting close to the basket.
Forced to shoot from the outside, the Wildcats hit just 1 of 14 from the field in the quarter while turning the ball over four times and scoring 2 points. Hersey, meanwhile, Hersey converted on 6 of 11 shots while bolting to a 29-13 advantage at the break.
“We played real good defense in that quarter,” Reszotko said. “And we ran our offense well tonight as well.”
Wheeling closed to 36-26 late in the third quarter. But Reszotko’s basket off of an offensive rebound late in the third quarter ignited a 14-3 run to put Wheeling away.
“We had a good offense effort,” Messer said. But we still need to be more consistent shooting the ball.”
Wheeling coach John Clancy was pleased by his team’s defense effort.
“It has been a point of emphasis for us,” Clancy said. “And I thought we did a pretty good job at the first level. We are trying to take more pride on that level.
“But we did not rebound well. Hersey did a better job on the 50-50 balls off of the rebounds.”
Justin Jobski came off the bench for Hersey to score 10 points while Kevin Kozil, Joe Mailloux and Trevor Haas each had 7 points. Wheeling, which shot 29 percent (15 of 52), was led by Charlie Kirk, who had 12 points and 8 rebounds, and Jeremy Stephani, who had 10 points.