Henderson's career night leads Jacobs to win
Whether it was a twisting layup in the lane, a midrange jumper or a long 3-pointer from the corner, Jacobs junior guard Jaden Henderson enjoyed his best offensive game as a Golden Eagle.
Connecting on 11-of-15 shots from the floor, Henderson, a part-time starter as a sophomore a year ago, scored a career-high 27 points to lead Jacobs to a 55-38 win over McHenry in Fox Valley Conference action in Algonquin Wednesday night.
"We lost a lot of scorers from last year so I know I have to score more this season," Henderson said.
"I hit some shots early which really helped my confidence. After the loss to (Crystal Lake) Central Saturday we wanted to be prepared for this game and win our home conference opener. It was a good team win."
Jacobs sixth-year coach Jim Roberts realizes Henderson can be a prolific scorer.
"He (Henderson) can be very special," said Roberts. "He was assertive offensively early and wanted to make plays every possession. He was making shots all over the floor. He made himself tough to guard from all over the floor."
Matt McCoy added 13 with 3 treys for the Golden Eagles (4-3, 1-1).
Leading 32-23 at halftime, the Eagles seized control of the game in the third quarter. Paced by 3s from Jalen Ramsey and Henderson and a layup from Andrew Balkcom, Jacobs scored the first 8 points of the second half and led 40-23 with 5:12 left in the third quarter.
McHenry's first points of the second half came on a 3-pointer from Mike Freund with 4:08 remaining in the third to make the score 40-26.
Jacobs, which outscored McHenry 17-7 in the quarter, led 49-30 heading into the final 8 minutes of play.
"We held McHenry to 5 points in the first quarter and really played with a lot of intensity on the defensive end," said Roberts. "Coach Denny (Jack) pointed out at halftime we gave up 18 points in the second quarter. That is not us and that is not acceptable.
"We knew we had to execute better on the defensive end in the third quarter and cause some turnovers. We wanted to pile up stops and we did. We are a young team and will probably play better at home. We just wanted to play better than we did at Central on Saturday and we did. It is good to win our first conference game and we just want to be in the conference fight."
Riley Anderson's putback with 2:18 left gave Jacobs its biggest lead of the game at 53-31.
Brian March paced the Warriors with 18. McHenry, which committed 20 turnovers, was 5-of-10 from 3-point range.