Cary-Grove slips past Huntley
Even though Cary-Grove senior Jason Gregoire hasn't fully transitioned from football to basketball nor been 100 percent with a bad left ankle, in a figurative and possibly a poetic sense, those things aren't holding him back from breaking other opponents' ankles in the process.
Gregoire crossed up Jason Zobott to some oohs and ahhs from the crowd during Cary-Grove's 39-36 win over Huntley in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball action in Cary Tuesday night.
And on the cross that freed up the football team's quarterback for a deep, right wing 3-pointer to break a 24-all tie, coupled with a putback 2 possessions later off a Justin Blair miss for a 5-point lead, those sequences gave the Trojans (3-4, 1-0) some breathing room late in the third after a Huntley surge made up a 5-point halftime deficit and a one-time 7-point hole late in the first half.
"I wasn't really expecting to cross him up," Gregoire said. "I just kind of did it to get some separation and he falls and I go 'OK,' and then I shot it."
But in retrospect, it was enough as Cary-Grove's lead evaporated again in the fourth. The Trojans managed to escape by making all 7 points on the 14 free throws they attempted - 5 by Gregoire alone, who shot 2 of 6 from the field and led the Trojans with 10 points - while avoiding two deep misses by Huntley's David Cruz as time expired.
"That obviously would have kind of made the game a six, seven-point game instead of a three-point game," Trojans' coach Ralph Schuetzle said of the free throw misses. "But early on in the season that's kind of what you get. (Huntley) scrapped. We have to execute better down the stretch but they're trapping and changing defense and you have to give them some credit."
Huntley coach Will Benson was definitely encouraged by his team's defense, as it allowed the Red Raiders (1-5, 0-1) to hang in throughout.
"I thought we were pretty solid defensively for both halves," Benson said. "We did a pretty good job on Gregoire, only had 10 in the second half, only five on free throws. (Trevor) Ruhland, I thought we did a great job post defensively, had some guards helping out, held him to (6 points). If you would have told me we'd hold those two guys to 16 combined I would have thought we were in pretty good shape."
Cruz led Huntley with 12 points, all on 3s, while Connor Boesch added 8.