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Huntley snaps 8-game losing streak to Jacobs

The pendulum swung Huntley's way in a 53-47 matinee victory at Jacobs Saturday.

Jacobs had defeated the Red Raiders eight straight times while winning Fox Valley Conference titles each of the last four seasons, but Huntley ended that streak with a victory more convincing than the final score indicates. The Red Raiders led by 17 points until Jacobs closed the game with an 11-0 run over the final 1:40 against mostly Huntley reserves.

"We haven't beaten them in a long time and we took that personally," said Huntley junior Uchenna Egekeze, who led his team with 12 points to go with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. "We needed to play hard and get the win for the program."

Huntley (6-3, 3-2) led by 5 points late in the second quarter when Hunter French provided a momentum boost. In one motion, the junior guard grabbed a long rebound and passed the ball to junior Ryan Sroka at the arc for a 3-pointer at the buzzer. That put Huntley ahead 25-18.

The Red Raiders scored twice out of the third-quarter chute to build the lead to 12 for the first time. Egekeze was fouled in the paint and made 2 free throws. Senior Nathan Draper then penetrated the lane and passed to senior guard Davis Pasco in the corner for an open 3-pointer.

"We were up 7 at the half and we knew we wanted to come out and extend the lead," said senior guard Patrick Roppolo. "We hit shots when we needed to."

Jacobs senior guard Matt McCoy sank one of his four 3-pointers to keep Jacobs within 9, but Sroka answered with a bucket in the post and Egekeze stole the ensuing inbounds pass under the basket and scored to stake Huntley to a 34-21 lead.

"Year in, year out Jacobs defends," Huntley coach Will Benson said. "What we needed to do was, one, match their intensity and, two, be able to score. I think we did a good job of that."

The scoring was spread out for the Red Raiders, who bounced back from Wednesday's 19-point loss to Crystal Lake South. Sroka had 10 points and 4 rebounds, Pasco scored 10 points, Draper had 8, Roppolo 7 and Ryan Crosby 6.

McCoy led Jacobs (4-6, 1-2) with 17 points. Junior Jaden Henderson was limited to 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting, thanks to the special attention paid to him. Egekeze (6-foot-3) shadowed Henderson (6-4) at the start of each half as the the Red Raiders played a box-and-one defense.

"I didn't expect that," Henderson said. "It was tough to put the ball in the basket. Took a lot of shots."

It was the third straight loss for Jacobs. The Golden Eagles shot 36 percent from the field (16 of 44), 31 percent from 3-point range (8 of 26) and lost the rebounding battle 22-16.

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