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Haas has the touch as Hersey handles Elk Grove

About the only things Hersey senior guard Payton Haas missed Friday night was his final free throw.

Haas scored a season-high 26 points and pulled down 9 of the Huskies' 33 rebounds in a 64-50 win over Elk Grove in Arlington Heights on Friday night.

"We have the ability to play like this every game," said Haas. "We played hard in practice this whole week, we played hard Friday night. My team was able to get me the ball in good positions to score. Max (Heeren) just took control on the floor for us. We played with a lot of energy the whole game. Because we rebounded well, it led to some fastbreak baskets."

Heeren added 8 points and handed out 9 assists as the Huskies improved to 4-3 and 1-1 in the Mid-Suburban East.

"My job tonight was to get everyone involved," said Heeren. "In practice this week we had a mission and that was to play hard. I knew I would have to spearhead the offense."

Haas, who shot 9 of 12 from the field, gave Hersey the lead for good at 12-10 with :57 left in the initial quarter. Heeren assisted on the play.

The second quarter was the sore spot for the Grens (5-2, 1-1), who hit on only 2 of 9 from the field and trailed 27-15 at halftime.

Haas scored 12 points in the quarter, including his team's first 7 points.

Joey Gatziolis who in his own right had a solid game with 17 points and 8 rebounds pulled the Grenadiers to 17-15 with 4:19 left in the first half. Elk Grove would not score the rest of the quarter as the Huskies closed it out with a 10-0 run.

"That was a downfall for us," said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman. "They controlled the rebounding where we only got one shot. We took some off-balance shots. While we made a few runs in the third and fourth quarters they came back with baskets to stop our movement."

Hersey opened up to a 38-21 lead on a pair of baskets by Mark Milligan with 3:33 left in the third quarter. Elk Grove closed the gap to 46-35 at quarters end.

The Huskies used a 7-3 run to start the fourth quarter, building a 53-36 lead with 4:57 left.

"It was important for us to get out and build a lead," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "Haas can score, but tonight he did it from different layers. Layups, jump shots, 3s and free throws. Max controlled the tempo and created a lot of opportunities for other players. Going forward, the key will be for us to learn from this game and go into the next one with the same energy and desperation. We went after loose balls, didn't commit many turnovers (9) and we rebounded (33-24 advantage) well."

Hersey shot 47 percent on 23 of 49, but the Huskies were 14 of 22 in the second half. Elk Grove finished at 35 percent on 16-of-45 after shooting just 21 percent in the first half.

Dan Hadler added 9 points for the Grens and Zak Cooper had the same for Hersey.

Elk Grove's Eric Pillath left the game with 3:52 left when he injured his left knee. Pillath has been one of the top scorers for the Grens and endured a torn right ACL two years ago.

Images: Elk Grove vs. Hersey, boys basketball

  Hersey's Payton Haas and teammate Zak Cooper battle Elk Grove's Tyree Howard for a rebound in MSL East play at Hersey on Friday. Mark Welsh/mwelsh@dailyherald.com
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