Short-handed Huntley battles but can't catch DeKalb

Huntley senior Nolan Engmann doesn't play very often, and sometimes doesn't play at all, while junior Ryan Sroka is a starter, but usually doesn't have to do as much as he did on Friday night.

Both played with a lot of heart, but it wasn't enough to overcome a knee injury to Uchenna Egekeze and a talented DeKalb team as the Red Raiders fell to the Barbs, 55-48 in a semifinal in the 91st annual Chuck Dayton Holiday Classic at DeKalb.

"When one of your best players goes down, and we knew at the half that he was not going to come back, I took it in my hands," Sroka said. "I had to step up my role. We came out slow in the third quarter and it really could've gone the other direction and been a blowout so I'm really proud of our guys battling back."

Huntley (8-5) trailed 36-21 midway through the third quarter but pulled within 39-33 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

"Engmann came in and I thought he really sparked us," Huntley coach Will Benson said. "He didn't do anything statistically great, but he got some offensive rebounds and set some nice screens and gave us a lot of energy. And all the kids love him and we needed him with the injury and poor play, and as a senior who doesn't play very often, he stepped in and the kids fed off him."

DeKalb (7-3) pulled away again though, going ahead 47-33 with just under 5 minutes to play, but the Red Raiders answered with a 12-1 run to close to within 48-45 after Patrick Roppolo's huge 3-pointer off a turnover with 2:10 still remaining.

After a few free throws from DeKalb's Michael Newman, Sroka's 3-pointer with 44 seconds left pulled Huntley to within 51-48. Unfortunately, the Red Raiders couldn't force a turnover and opted not to foul and Newman broke free their trapping defense for an easy layup with 29 seconds left.

"We got some turnovers, some easy buckets and Sroka really stepped up, especially in the second half, scoring and attacking the glass," Benson said. "We had trouble getting to the rim and (Egekeze) is really good at helping balance our inside-outside part of the game."

Sroka scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half. He also collected 7 rebounds. Roppolo added 11 points and Ryan Crosby scored 8 off the bench.

DeKalb dominated inside, primarily in transition, outscoring Huntley 34-18 in the paint.

"We need to clean up some of those long turnovers where they got easy baskets," Sroka said. "I do wish we could've pulled out the 'W' but we've got to take that we battled back. That's all we can take away from the game."

As for Egekeze's health, Benson thinks he'll be all right.

"He's a little banged up, but I think long-term he'll be OK," Benson said. "The trainer and I went to grad school and (Egekeze's) dad is a doctor so he has plenty of good eyes on him."