Daniels, Vernon HIlls soar to victory

By far, the loudest cheers of the night Saturday at Vernon Hills came when sensational sophomore DaVaris Daniels came up with a little razzle dazzle on the offensive end midway through the fourth quarter against Wauconda.

His soaring dunk, followed immediately by a high-flying layup off of an alley-oop pass from Chris Morgan sent the crowd into a mini-frenzy.

But what probably should have gotten even louder cheers was what happened on the defensive end to set up the dunk, and many other clutch plays for the Cougars all night long.

Daniels stole the ball away from the visiting Bulldogs prior to dribbling about half the length of the floor and then soaring in for the slam.

It was one of many steals by Vernon Hills, which badgered Wauconda into a whopping 28 turnovers en route to a 63-44 North Suburban Conference Prairie Division victory that was never in doubt in the second half.

The victory moves Vernon Hills to 10-6 overall and 4-1 in the Prairie. Wauconda drops to 2-14 and 0-7.

"We didn't play defense the way we wanted in the first quarter," said Daniels, who finished with 18 points. "We figured there's no way this team (Wauconda) should be getting easy layups and offensive rebounds and putbacks. So we stepped it up and we focused on defense and it worked out pretty well."

Wauconda held an 11-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter, but the Cougars countered with a fullcourt press that gave them a 23-4 advantage in the second quarter, and a 32-15 lead at halftime.

Senior guard Riaz Hoveydai had a huge second quarter for the Cougars. He gave Wauconda fits in every conceivable way, driving to the basket, hitting 3-pointers, wheeling and dealing in the paint.

Hoveydai tallied 12 points in the quarter and finished with a game-high 24 points.

"Coach (Matt McCarty) always emphasizes that I need to attack more to get more opportunities at the line, so the more I attack, the more opportunities will develop for the team," Hoveydai said.

Vernon Hills went up by as many as 24 points in the third quarter and hit that margin again in the fourth before Wauconda closed with a small run that trimmed the final margin.

Junior forward Eric Hartnett scored a team-high 12 points for Wauconda, including 6 points in the fourth quarter. Gibson Gaite added 10 points for the Bulldogs.