Huntley surprises Dundee-Crown in FVC opener
Huntley didn't win a Fox Valley Conference road game a year ago.
Playing at Dundee-Crown to open the 2018-2019 FVC slate, the Red Raiders were hoping to immediately change that.
In convincing fashion, the Red Raiders outscored the host Chargers 35-21 in the second half and cruised to a 56-39 road conference win in Carpentersville Saturday afternoon.
"We know D-C (Dundee-Crown) is a tough physical team with size," said Huntley coach Will Benson. "They won their (Sycamore) Thanksgiving tournament and we knew playing them at home to start the conference season would be tough. To hold a good potent team like D-C to under 40 is quite an accomplishment. We weathered the storm in the first half and grinded out a tough win."
Nursing a slim 21-18 at halftime the Raiders (4-1, 1-0) seized control of the game in the third quarter.
Spearheaded by 9 points from Uchenna Egekeze and a pair of 3-pointers from Ryan Sroka, the Red Raiders blitzed D-C (4-1, 0-1) with a 15-3 run to start the second half and led 36-21 with 2:39 left in the third quarter.
A trey at the buzzer by Ryan Crosby gave Huntley a 41-25 advantage after 24 minutes of play.
A 3-pointer by Josh Raby pulled the Chargers within 47-37 with 3:18 remaining. But, the Chargers couldn't get any closer.
In the second half, Huntley connected on 15-of-19 shots for 79 percent.
"Huntley did a great job of executing on offense and defense," said Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber. "We were chasing most of the second half and had poor shot selection. Huntley was the better team tonight."
Sroka paced the Red Raiders with 20 points, including 3 buckets from beyond the arc.
"We knew this would be a tough game on the road against a good D-C team," said Sroka. "We were frustrated last season that we didn't win a conference road game. We set the tone early and competed hard. I shot with a lot of confidence and my teammates got me the ball in good rhythm. They got some easy shots in the first half but we tightened up our defense in the second half."
With 13 points in the second half, Egekeze added 16 with 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
"Coach (Benson) always emphasizes to me to me work inside-out," said Egekeze. "I start games trying to go to the basket and get in the lane aggressively. Then, I work on my outside shot and it started falling in the second half. This was a great way to start the conference season with a road win."
Jack Michalski paced the Chargers with 10 points and 7 rebounds while Damarion Butler scored 9 with 5 assists.