Jacobs routs Prairie Ridge
If Friday night's Fox Valley Conference boys basketball matchup between Jacobs and Prairie Ridge was a fight the referees would have stopped it in the first round.
Scoring the first 15 points of the game, Jacobs' dominance was evident in cruising to a 69-38 win over the Wolves in FVC action in Crystal Lake.
"Against their defense, you have to hit the offensive glass and get putbacks," said Jacobs coach Jim Roberts. "Our pressure defense got us easy baskets early and set the tone for the game."
Paced by 3 putback baskets from Nik Balkcom and 3-pointers by Ryan Phillips and Kam Mack the Golden Eagles were able to leapfrog to a 15-0 lead with 2:26 left in the first quarter.
The Wolves (6-10, 2-4) didn't score their first basket until the 1:10 mark of the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Mike Patterson.
"Jacobs had six offensive rebounds in the first minute and that is totally unacceptable," said PR coach Corky Card. "We had trouble matching Jacobs' physical play and we didn't handle their contact very well. We didn't match their energy early in the game. Jacobs is a very good team that is very well coached."
The Wolves got to within 26-16 on a trey by Connor Kazin with 36 seconds left in the first half.
Jacobs responded with a 3 by Phillips which banked in to beat the buzzer to give the Eagles a 29-16 halftime lead.
"That was a huge shot by Ryan to end the half," said Roberts, whose team takes on Daily Herald No. 2-ranked West Aurora Saturday night in Aurora.
"PR was making a run and we had some momentum going into the locker room."
Jacobs (15-2, 6-0) seized total control of the game in the third quarter.
Leading 38-19, the Golden Eagles went on a decisive 10-0 run to take a 48-19 advantage.
Matt McCoy and Phillips connected on treys and Mack scored on a pair of baskets including a dunk as Jacobs led by 29 with 1:56 left in the third quarter.
The Golden Eagles' biggest lead was 32, 66-34, after a 3 by McCoy with 1:50 left in the game.
Mack paced the Eagles with 20 points including a pair of 3s. He added 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
"We were really ready to play and did a good job of getting the lead early," said Mack. "When PR made their run in the second quarter we kept our composure and Ryan hit a big shot to end the half."
Phillips backed Mack with 18 points which included four 3s while Balkcom scored 12 points with 9 rebounds including 7 off the offensive glass and McCoy tallied 11 points with 3 treys off the bench.
Tim Cook, in a reserve role, led the Wolves with 9 points, all in the fourth quarter, while Kazin and Joe Hansen scored 8 apiece for Prairie Ridge.