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Maine South able to take Hersey's best shot

Hersey, the leader in the Mid-Suburban East, and Maine South, the Central Suburban South leader, squared off in Park Ridge on Tuesday night in a nonconference boys basketball battle.

And yes, a battle it was.

The Hawks who are ranked 10th in the latest Associated Press Class 4A poll, held on to beat the Huskies 66-59.

Though the Huskies fell to 12-8 and the Hawks improved to 21-2, Hersey gave Maine South all it could handle.

"We didn't communicate well on defense in the first half very well," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "On offense there were sequences where we didn't work for good shots. In the second half we attacked them better and our shots went in."

The Huskies last lead was at 24-21 with 4:38 left in the second quarter after Payton Haas' basket.

Caleb deMarigny gave Maine South the lead for good at 25-24 with 3:41 left. That basket was part of a 10-2 run over the last 4:12 that gave Maine South a 31-26 lead at the break. Hersey had led 18-17 after one quarter.

Maine South looked like it would start to pull away after a 9-3 start to the second half gave the Hawks a 40-29 lead with 4:22 left in the quarter.

Baskets by Zak Cooper, Josh Mailloux and 8 of Joe Coffaro's 13 points pulled Hersey back to 44-41 as the quarter ended.

With 2:35 left in the game, Hersey pulled to within 57-54 on Mike Lelito's 3. But the Hawks closed out the final 1:26 with a 9-5 advantage to end the game.

"We shared the ball well, made free throws and had some nice fastbreak baskets," said Maine South assistant coach Mike Nee, who ran the team Tuesday in the absence of coach Tony Lavorato. "Their ability to get offensive rebounds kept them in the game, as well as their ability to hit some big 3-point shots."

Maine South hit 16 of 17 free throws, including going 10-for-10 in the fourth quarter.

The Huskies hit for 10 three-pointers.

One of the key reasons the Huskies played the Hawks close was Mailloux.

"I was really mentally prepared for this game knowing I was going against (George) Sargeant," said Mailloux. "I felt if I could front him, it might give our guards some chances to force some turnovers."

Seargeant scored 10 points in the contest.

"This was one of the first games that I actually did pretty well down low," said Mailloux. "I think I did a good job kicking the ball back to the guards if I didn't have anything inside. When I did, I took advantage of it."

"Mailloux did real well tonight," said Messer. "He came out of the game with a good mindset."

Mailloux scored 12 points and had 5 rebounds. Haas had 10 points and Lelito scored all of his 8 points in the final quarter.

While Sergeant was held down, other Hawks did some damage. Jon Arenas scored 17, David Neidlands had 14, deMarigny 11 and Nick Ruben 10.

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