Huntley finishes strong vs. Jacobs

Jacobs put together a solid stretch in the second half and cut Huntley's 10-point lead to three on guard Robert Pennel's fourth 3-pointer of the game to start the fourth quarter.

It looked as if the Golden Eagles were going to push Huntley to the final buzzer, until the Red Raiders started raining in 3s.

Ben Ahmer and Ryan Sroka hit from behind the arc only 20 seconds apart, then Ahmer scored on a layup. Later, Niko Mendoza and Ryan Crosby hit 3s 30 seconds apart.

"We took that personally when (Pennel) hit that," Mendoza said. "It was like a punch to our face and we were like boxers, 'All right, we were going to pound them right away.'"

Huntley finished off Jacobs, 50-38, for a Fox Valley Conference victory Friday night. Sroka led the Raiders (7-2, 3-1 FVC) with 18 points and nine rebounds.

"We hit a lot of big 3s," Sroka said. "From there we just needed to get some stops. Our main goal in the second half was getting a couple stops in a row. We didn't manage to do it in the third quarter, but we did it in the fourth."

Raiders coach Will Benson thought Mendoza's contributions, including nine points on three 3s, were huge.

"When we got to crunchtime, we have to have Niko on the floor," Benson said. "He made about four winning plays in a row. He hit a 3, set the screen for Cros that led to a 3, defended a shot well, got a couple rebounds. He's such a competitor. We had to have him in."

Mendoza deflected any praise toward his teammates.

"I'm actually not really a shooter," he said. "I give all the credit to my teammates. They found me when I was open. It was a really good performance by all of us. Those were good screens, good cuts, good everything. It was a great game."

Sroka scored 13 of his game-high total in the first half, and the Raiders enjoyed a 25-15 halftime lead.

Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts lamented his team's 1-of-10 shooting in the second quarter.

"We didn't have turnovers, we missed layups, shots at the rim," said Roberts, whose team is 6-3, 3-2. "There were 12 points at the rim we didn't finish. That usually compounds itself going the other way somehow. That's what we talked about at halftime; it didn't feel like a 10-point game. It shouldn't have been a 10-point game."

Pennel hit two 3s as the Eagles narrowed the margin in the third quarter, then opened the fourth with another to make it 35-32 before the Raiders heated up.

Pennel finished with 16 points, while Jaden Henderson added 12.

Uchenna Egekeze scored eight for Huntley, and Crosby and Ahmer each added seven. Huntley stayed close to FVC leaders Cary-Grove and Hampshire with the win.

"That's huge," Sroka said. "That takes us from a pretty good team to a great team going into the winter break. We knew we had to have that win. We're all battling for that top spot."