Jacobs opens FVC Valley play with decisive win

One thing about the flip of the calender benefiting the Jacobs boys basketball team: the Golden Eagles could leave their 2-game skid and disappointing fourth place finish in the Hinkle Holiday Classic behind them.

As far as the new year is concerned, after the Golden Eagles downed the Warriors in McHenry 56-38 Tuesday to begin Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play, it's safe to say they've forgotten about the past and adjusted their minds to what's ahead for them in 2015.

And that list has some pretty substantial goals on it.

"We had a disappointing holiday tournament but we looked at it as everything is in front of us now that we want to accomplish," Northern Michigan-bound senior Kenton Mack said. "We have a conference season and we have the playoffs. We have some big goals we want to accomplish so everything's in front of us."

And eventually, point guard Chrishawn Orange put everyone behind him, leading all scorers with 19 points, including 15 in the second half when he controlled matters after McHenry closed within 6 at the half.

But Mack and senior forward Matt Bindi were red hot for Jacobs at the start, combining for 14 of the Golden Eagles' 20 first-quarter points as the team drained 6 of its first 7 shots. Bindi totaled 12 points and 2 rebounds while Mack tallied 11 points, 3 assists and 1 steal. Bindi was perfect from the field in the first 8 minutes, which included a 3-pointer from the top of the arc in the early going that showed the team was ready to go after a 10-day layoff and its last win on December 23.

"We're a really good team to bounce back," Bindi said. 'We don't let other games really affect us that have in the past because we can't change them."

But things didn't really change for Jacobs (9-5, 1-0) until the third quarter, when the team switched to man-to-man from a zone approach in the half court. McHenry (3-11, 0-1) scored just 7 points in the third and 5 in the fourth on 5 of 24 shooting while Jacobs went 6-for-10 in the third and eventually outscored the Warriors 24-12 in the second half. One of Orange's 7 rebounds gave Jacobs a 12-point lead midway through the third and his dish off to Mack near the basket with 3:15 left made it 42-28. Orange would cap a 14-0 run with his layup off a steal with 18 seconds left in the quarter for a 46-28 lead.

"We go just go through some dry spells where we don't score," Warriors' coach Tim Paddock said. "We come down six at halftime and you have to score more than five points, especially against those guys, you're not going to hold them to five to stay in it."

Sophomore Cameron Krutwig's heavy stat line of 6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks, 3 assists and 2 steals was efficient as the Golden Eagles' shooting, which hit at a 50 percent clip on 42 shots. Jacobs survived a couple of deep 3s from McHenry's Nick Bellich, who nailed 3 to total 13 points for McHenry, who shot just 31 percent.

"We're entering league play now," Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts said. "Our seniors understand everything we do with the summer and the offseason, our preseason schedule, the tournaments we play. Everything is to prepare us for league play. So they were excited, it's here, league play is here. I thought we had good energy tonight."