Naperville Central puts away Huntley
Earlier this month Naperville Central senior Cameron Dougherty received his admissions paperwork from Harvard where he will head next year to play water polo.
On Friday he was back on the court at the 92nd annual Chuck Dayton Classic in DeKalb, scoring 17 points in the Redhawks' 69-45 win over Huntley in the tournament quarterfinals.
That might not qualify as your typical two-sport athlete, but Dougherty says it suits him fine.
"I think it's the weirdest sports combo in the state," Dougherty said. "I can't imagine there's many others.
"It's really just basketball in the water with a goal. The strategy is so similar. Play zone offense, zone defense, motion offense, picks, all that stuff. Being able to high-point a pass, reaction time to a ball, hand-eye coordination. It just helps so much, and the physicality. Water polo is the most physical sport in the world and that translates so well to basketball."
Dougherty used his strength to draw several fouls Friday, getting to the free-throw line 12 times and making 11. Naperville Central hit 24 of 30 to Huntley's 8 for 10.
Naperville Central (9-1) faces No. 1 seed Oswego (10-1) in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Huntley (8-3) will play Dundee-Crown (6-4) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Redhawks avenged a loss to Huntley at last year's Dayton tourney.
"I was really happy we got a chance to play them again because last year was a game we thought we should have had," Dougherty said. "It's not very often especially when they are not a conference team you get a chance to play them again. Luckily they were right by us in the bracket."
Six-foot-10 Oakland recruit Chris Conway led both teams with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field with 7 rebounds.
Conway scored 14 points in the second half punctuated by a dunk late in the fourth quarter.
"Chris just dominated," Dougherty said. "He was able to use his size, over his left shoulder, over his right shoulder, spins, off the glass, he had it all going today."
Huntley never led but pulled within 21-20 midway through the second quarter on a pair of free throws by Hunter French.
The Redhawks scored the final eight points of the first half - including a layup and two free throws by Aidan Kramer - and the first four points of the second half for a 12-0 run and 33-20 lead.
Huntley never got within nine points the rest of the way. The Red Raiders made just 5 of 28 from the 3-point arc (17.9%) and 2 of 22 besides Ryan Sroka's 3-for-6 shooting.
"Good looks by the right guys," Huntley coach Will Benson said. "We usually shoot it pretty well and we just could not make a shot.
"They are good. The 6-10 kid is a hard matchup for everybody including us. He is very efficient."
Uchenna Egekeze finished with 21 points and 8 rebounds for Huntley. Sroka added 15.
Kramer joined Conway and Dougherty in double figures for the Redhawks with 10 points, and Kyle Baskin had 8.
"Aidan and Kyle are doing a great job taking care of the basketball and running our stuff," Redhawks coach Pete Kramer said. "Cameron and Chris are so much more improved from a year ago. Matthew Murpy has just improved his game too. We have a solid team. We are playing great team basketball on the offensive and defensive end."