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Rockford Jefferson passes up Huntley

When David Cruz drilled a long 3-pointer with 4:08 left in the third quarter, Huntley enjoyed a 37-26 lead.

The Red Raiders seemed well on their way to claim the Consolation C Championship at Saturday's Hinkle Holiday Classic hosted by Jacobs.

Somebody forgot to tell Rockford Jefferson.

The J-Hawks ended the game with a 22-7 run in posting a 48-44 victory.

"We really played well for 3 quarters," said Huntley coach Will Benson. "We had some big turnovers down the stretch and we didn't clamp down on defense. We are improving as a team and we took some steps forward in the this tournament."

Led by 10 from Cruz (including 3 treys) and 8 points from Connor Boesch, Huntley led 30-22 at halftime.

Pace by 3s from ML Moore and Tyler Young, Jefferson got to within 39-34 after three quarters.

The J-Hawks, who continued to whittle away at the Huntley advantage in the fourth quarter, took the lead for good at 44-42 on a putback by Montel Brown with 2:12 left.

The J-Hawks sealed the win by making 4-of-6 from the line in the final 30 seconds. Brown was 3-of-4 from the charity stripe as the J-Hawks won by 4.

Jefferson, who had 14 offensive rebounds and converted 7 into putback baskets, were led by Brown with 17. Moore scored 11 with 3 baskets from beyond the arc.

"Huntley simply outplayed us in the first half," said Jefferson coach Todd Brannan. "They got every loose ball and we didn't attack their match up zone very well. We got more transition baskets in the second half and we played harder. We really crashed the boards and played much better defense. Our zone was much better and we did a much better job of contesting shots and passes. We had a much better mindset in the second half."

Boesch paced the Red Raiders with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Cruz, who connected on 4-of-7 from 3-point range, tallied 13 points and Jack Bessey was the third Red Raider in double digits with 10 points.

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