Huntley boys, girls sweep Hampshire
There was no rah-rah-speeches at halftime. Huntley coach Will Benson just wanted his team basically to execute and play better.
The Red Raiders heeded Benson's words of wisdom.
Holding a slim 19-16 lead at intermission, the Red Raiders outscored pesky Hampshire 20-5 in the third quarter.
Huntley's third quarter onslaught propelled the Red Raiders to a 49-27 Fox Valley Conference win in Huntley Friday night.
Huntley moves to 8-1 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the FVC.
"We wanted to move the ball side to side and be more patient on offense," said Benson. "We wanted to hit the glass. One hundred percent it helps to have a veteran team with experience."
The Red Raiders dominated the Whip-Purs on both ends in the third.
Connecting on their first 5 shots of the quarter including a 3-pointer, the Red Raiders scored the first 11 points of the second half to take a 30-19 lead with 4:33 remaining.
Aiden Wieczorek scored 5 points and Nathan Ary scored 4 as Huntley built up a double-digit lead. Hampshire's first points of the quarter came on a putback by Sam Ptak with 3:07 left in the quarter to make the score 30-21.
The Whip-Purs (2-7, 1-3) couldn't get any closer.
Ben Ahmer's 3 at the buzzer gave the Raiders a 39-21 lead after 24 minutes.
"Ben's shot was the exclamation point for the quarter," said Benson. "We played solid at both ends."
Ahmer paced the winners with 15 points and 5 assists.
"The last couple third quarters we have played well," said Ahmer. "We got some defensive stops and got some offensive rebounds. A lot of us have played together since fifth grade. We are really coming together. It is a fun start to the season."
Ary added 11 all in the second half.
Nick Louis led Hampshire with 9.
"We have bad runs that really hurts us," said Hampshire coach Mike Featherly. "D-C had a 21-0 run against us that really hurt us, We have too many empty possessions and make too many silly mistakes. We play hard and are seeing progress. We don't have to coach effort."
Huntley girls 36, Hampshire 22:
Defense has been the staple for the Huntley girls under Steve Raethz.
That was certainly on display Friday night.
Holding to Hampshire to 22 points, 1 in the fourth quarter, the Red Raiders cruised to victory in Fox Valley Conference play in Huntley Friday night.
"We hang our hat on defense," said the Huntley coach. "It was a physical, grind-it-out game."
Sammi Campanelli led the Red Raiders with 12 all in the second half. Jessie Ozzauto scored 10, all in the first half, and Mallory Winters scored 8 with 7 rebounds.
Avery Cartee and Kaitlyn Millison scored 7 apiece for Hampshire.
"Steve always has kids prepared and they play incredibly hard on both ends," said Hampshire coach Eric Samuelson. "We are young and acted like it tonight. But, no mistake, Huntley earned it."