Crystal Lake Central surprises Hampshire
This was more grudge match than rematch.
The Crystal Lake Central boys basketball team had been anticipating Saturday's tilt with Hampshire since Dec. 16, when the Whip-Purs whupped the Tigers 90-49 in a Fox Valley Conference Fox Division game.
CL Central competed without two of its top players in that first meeting: senior guard Jason Price (ankle) and 6-foot-5 senior center Ian Koch (upper respiratory infection). The presence of both players in Saturday's lineup, coupled with the inner drive to avenge the 41-point drubbing, sparked the Tigers to a 47-41 upset in Crystal Lake.
"I didn't have to do a lot," said CL Central coach Rich Czeslawski, whose team improved to 7-12 overall, 2-5 in the FVC Fox. "Our kids had this circled on the calendar. We were down guys last time and our guys felt like they didn't really show us any respect with how they handled the game. Our guys were very, very focused on this game."
The loss was the fourth straight for Hampshire (13-6, 3-3), which led 21-12 midway through the second quarter only to see the Tigers close the half on a 10-2 run and draw within a point.
"It's a little bit frustrating losing these types of game, but you win some, you lose some," said Hampshire sophomore Brennen Woods, who scored 5 points. "You get hot and you get cold, but you just have to brush it off and keep moving forward."
Having Price and Koch on the floor made a huge difference. They combined to score 39 of CL Central's 47 points. Price led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-20 shooting. He canned 5 of 10 attempts from 3-point range, including a trey that staked the Tigers to a 37-32 lead with 5:32 left in the game.
Koch scored 12 points, 10 in the first half. He also grabbed 8 rebounds, second on his team only to senior Jack Ortner's 10.
"Me and Ian didn't play that first game and we watched our team get embarrassed, so we wanted to come out and get this one," Price said. "We wanted to get it real bad. It was all defense. Last time they scored mostly off transition and one of the plays that they run. This time I don't know if they scored in transition or off that play the entire game."
In the first meeting Hampshire shot 60 percent from the floor and won the rebounding battle. This time around the Tigers limited the Whip-Purs to 27-percent field-goal shooting (13 of 48) and they outrebounded Hampshire 31-27. The Whips missed 7 of 18 free-throw attempts, including the front end of the bonus three times.
"Right now our offense is dictating our game," Hampshire coach Bob Barnett said. "Mentally, because kids have been struggling the last two weeks shooting the ball, it's just like they drop their head and now they're not going to play defense and they're going to make a lazy pass. It snowballs and it's snowballed to the tune of, what, four in a row? We have go get out of this funk somehow."
Matt Bridges and Luke Tuttle each finished with 10 points to lead Hampshire, which hosts Grayslake Central on Tuesday.