Hersey outlasts Conant
Host Hersey never trailed in its Mid-Suburban League boys basketball crossover game against Conant Tuesday night, but it was a pretty close game from start to finish.
Hersey (6-10) did take its biggest lead of the contest at 40-30 with 4:28 to play. But the Cougars hung tough down the stretch as sophomore guard Daniel Hong hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to keep Conant within striking distance of the Huskies.
Some outstanding free throw shooting (11-for-12) in the final 4:28 of the game helped Hersey seal a 49-43 victory as the pesky Cougars fell to 2-11 on the season.
Both teams got off to a slow start with the Huskies taking a 7-6 lead after one quarter before they went into halftime with a 25-21 lead.
The third quarter was also a defensive struggle as Hersey managed to extend its lead to 31-26 heading into the decisive fourth quarter when Conant had 6 of its 18 turnovers.
"That (18 turnovers) is not going to get it done. When we play hard we play well, but when we're lackadaisical we turn the ball over," said Conant coach Jim Maley, whose team was only 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the contest. "Credit to them, they played tough and they held our top scorer (Devon Ellis) to 6 points so that is pretty good."
The second 3-pointer by Hong (game-high 17 points) cut the lead to 44-40 with 2:42 to play before Hersey's Ethan Roberts (team-high 12 points) hit 3 of 4 free throws to boost the lead to 47-40 with 21.8 seconds remaining. The Huskies hit 13 of 15 free throws overall.
"We made a lot of free throws, we made enough plays to win, and Conant definitely gave us some problems with their defensive effort," said Hersey coach Austin Scott, whose team had 19 turnovers. "We had a lot of guys contribute, and a lot of guys did a lot of different things. It was a nail-biter. You never knew where the next turnover was coming from."
Hersey's balanced offense got 10 points and 4 rebounds from junior reserve Griffin Ginder while junior teammate Ben Randall had 9 points and 5 rebounds. Junior Sean Beckman had 9 points for the Cougars while Andrew Wagner chipped in 8 points for the Huskies.
"I'm very happy for our guys," added Scott, whose team is at Rolling Meadows on Friday. "We're a work in progress, and our goal is to be playing our best basketball at the end of the season."