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Heeren assists Hersey in decisive win

Max Heeren, Hersey's senior point guard, knew what he had to do to help the Huskies bounce back from Tuesday's loss to St. Viator.

"As a point guard your job has to be to penetrate the lane and get the ball inside," said Heeren. "That's what I was doing tonight. We were able to get the second layer of offense open."

Heeren did not put a point on the board for the better part of three quarters and finished with 7 points. But he dished out 10 assists in Hersey's 65-38 decision over visiting Buffalo Grove.

The win improved Hersey's Mid-Suburban East divisional lead to 6-1, and got the Huskies to 12-7 overall. The Bison dropped to 4-15 and 1-6 in conference play.

Collin Dekorsi led the Bison with 8 points.

Senior Payton Haas led Hersey's first-half offense with all of his 12 points. He also pulled down 5 rebounds and had a blocked shot.

Joe Coffaro warmed up in the second half, scoring 10 of his team-high 16 points in the third quarter to help the Bison pull away. Ken Hasley scored 10 points off the bench for the Huskies.

The Huskies' bench produced 24 points which pleased coach Steve Messer.

"We had really good bench play tonight," said Messer. "I give these kids a lot of credit. They saw the mistakes that they made in Tuesday's loss to St. Viator. They put together a great practice on Wednesday. They gave themselves a chance to play better."

Haas hit back-to-back 3s to break a 10-all tie in the last two minutes of the first quarter as Hersey led 16-12.

Buffalo Grove's Hans Haller (7 rebounds) scored 5 of his 7 points in the second quarter to keep Buffalo Grove in range, trailing 26-21 at the halftime break.

With Hersey ahead 28-23 in the third quarter, Coffaro hit 2 free throws and a 3-pointer, which was followed by a Josh Mailloux basket on a assist from Heeren. Coffaro hit for a another basket and another 3 for a 40-25 lead with 1:38 left in the quarter.

"We ran a good offense tonight," said Heeren. "Tuesday we struggled from the field. At practice on Wednesday we worked on being patient on offense and getting good looks and open shots. We tried not to get too low after Tuesday's loss."

"Max really had a good performance," said Messer. "It just wasn't the assists and the (4) steals. It was how he was able to get people in position so they could make the plays."

The Bison looked leg-weary in the second half.

"I thought our energy level was good in the first quarter," said Bison coach Keith Peterson. "The second quarter it was good. We just weren't there physically and mentally for the third and fourth quarters. We've had a rough stretch of games and I think it caught up with us.They came out in the third quarter and were very physical with us. On offense we retreated from their physicality."

St. Viator 81, Marian Central 36: Lions senior guard Patrick McNamara tied his career high with 28 points as host St. Viator rolled to a victory in East Suburban Catholic Conference play.

Kevin Monson contributed 15 points, all of them on 3s, and Sal Cannella had 13 for the Lions (13-6, 4-1).

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