Zion-Benton outruns Jacobs in Hinkle semifinals

In the end, Zion-Benton's quickness was too much for Jacobs to overcome.

Forcing Jacobs into 20 turnovers for the game and 7 in the fourth quarter, the Zee-Bees outscored the Golden Eagles 12-5 in the final 8 minutes in posting a 56-45 win in semifinal action of the Hinkle Holiday Classic boys basketball tournament hosted by Jacobs in Algonquin Wednesday night.

Zion-Benton advances to Saturday's championship game to play Rockford Boylan at 7:30 p.m. The Titans cruised to a 72-55 win over Barrington.

Barrington takes on Jacobs (11-2) for third place at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“It is really the first time this season we have faced that type of heat and pressure for 32 minutes,” said Jacobs coach Jim Roberts, “We did have our chances and opportunities in the game. If we could have got the lead in the game I think we would have played with more confidence.”

The Golden Eagles, who never led, trailed by 11, 29-18, with 3:22 left in the first half on a layup by DeShawn Wilson.

Jacobs battled back courtesy of three 3-pointers by Cooper Schwartz and a trey by Adam Kale to climb back to within 5 of Zion-Benton 36-31 after 16 minutes of play.

Jacobs whittled away at the Zee-Bees' lead and tied the game at 40 on a reverse layup by Cam Krutwig with 1:35 left in the third quarter.

Zion-Benton took the lead for good at 42-40 on a 15-footer by Damarquis Henry with 1:22 left in the third quarter,

Leading 44-40 entering the fourth quarter, Zion-Benton seized control of the game by scoring the first 6 points of the period to complete a 10-0 run.

Kinenan Baltimore scored a pair of baskets and Jaalen Ray nailed a 10-footer in the lane as the Zee-Bees led by 50-40 with 5:22 remaining.

The Golden Eagles broke a 6 minute, 23 second drought on a layup from Tim Randl with 4:18 remaining.

Jacobs couldn't get any closer.

Before fouling out with 5:27 remaining, Wilson paced the winners with 14 points. Henry scored 13 and Baltimore had 12.

Schwartz, with five 3s, paced the Golden Eagles with 16 points. Krutwig tallied 10 points with 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 8 blocked shots.

‘This is a good win against a good team at their home court,” said Zion-Benton coach Bob Worthington. ‘ We did a good job on Krutwig, He is really a good player.”