Maine West battles before falling

Despite digging itself a 17-1 hole in the first seven minutes Friday night against visiting Highland Park, Maine West's boys basketball team still had a fighting chance in the fourth quarter.

A rebound bank shot by senior forward Alex Samuelson (9 points) brought the Warriors to within 39-28 with 3:49 left in the Central Suburban North game.

But the Giants answered with an 8-0 run to put the game away en route to a 49-36 triumph in Des Plaines.

Conor Hart scored 8 of his team-high 13 points in the second half to help the Warriors (6-11, 0-4) keep things interesting.

"Our half-court defense was good," said Hart, a 5-foot-10 sophomore guard. "I think we can be pleased with our effort on defense. We've just got to cut down on our turnovers. We practice like we play so we've got to step it up in practice."

Juniors Odera Eneogwe and Matt Jordan each added 5 points the Warriors, who got a buzzer-beating 17-footer by senior Tommy Ross to bring West to within 35-23 after three quarters.

"I feel there were moments when Odera (Eneogwe) did a nice job rebounding and playing defense," said Warriors coach Erik McNeill. "We just have to clean up things on offense. We look for Conor to take the shots from the outside and he did a nice job. But we didn't play that well around him.

"Defensively, I thought we did a good job holding them to 49 points. But we had so many turnovers. We've just got to put it together on both sides."

Layne Gierke and Jordan Reisner led Highland Park (6-8, 2-2) with 12 points apiece.

"I liked the way we started and finished," said Giants coach Paul Harris. "But we go through stretches where we have a difficult time scoring. Give Maine West credit. They picked it up on defense and were stopping us."