Huntley finally clears Cary-Grove hurdle
The Huntley boys basketball team exorcised a demon and thrust itself into Fox Valley Conference title contention Tuesday.
Cary-Grove won the FVC opener between the teams in Cary on Dec. 6, a result to which both programs had become accustomed.
The Trojans entered Tuesday's rematch with a 13-game winning streak over the Red Raiders. Huntley's last win in the series was a 58-25 victory on Dec. 17, 2013.
Huntley put that streak to bed with a 54-46 victory in front of a big crowd in a televised game that featured four 1,000-point scorers. Huntley senior Uchenna Egekeze led the way with 21 points and senior teammate Ryan Sroka added 10.
"This was one of our goals," Egekeze said. "It's been a while since we beat them. This is a big win."
The victory drew Huntley (18-5, 9-1) even in the loss column with Cary-Grove (20-3, 10-1).
"I give our guys credit. For us to keep within striking distance until we got another chance at them was hard," Huntley coach Will Benson said. "Now we're able to draw even with them. It was awesome."
The Red Raiders used a diamond-and-one defense with 6-foot-2 senior Hunter French guarding Cary-Grove all-time leading scorer Beau Frericks. The scheme worked for the most part. Frericks missed his first 6 shots. He finished with 16 points, shy of his 21-point average, on 4-of-18 shooting.
"I chased him around and tried to not let him get a good look," French said. "I was trying to make him make a two instead of a three because I know he can get hot from three pretty quickly."
The Trojans missed 19 of their first 20 attempts from 3-point range and 24 of 29 for the game. They were limited to 6 first-quarter points and 5 in the third quarter.
"Every team comes out and junk defenses us. We just have to be prepared for that," Cary-Grove coach Adam McCloud said. "That's not an excuse. We just didn't get enough good looks for our best guys. And other guys had opportunities to make shots and they didn't make shots."
Huntley outscored the Trojans 15-5 in the third quarter to turn a 3-point halftime deficit into a 33-25 lead. Egekeze scored 10 points in the period to lead the charge.
Cary-Grove drew within 48-41 with 4:03 left in the game on a 3-pointer by Belmont recruit Frank Jakubicek, who finished with 12 points and 7 rebounds. The basket put him over 1,000 points for his career.
Huntley responded with a press-break layup by senior Nikolas Mendoza and another Egekeze bucket. The 6-foot-3 forward sent the Huntley faithful into a frenzy with 2:21 to play when he took a Mendoza pass and elevated for a dunk that resulted in a three-point play and a 13-point lead.
"It's unbelievable," French said afterward. "To get over the hump, to beat a good team, will do wonders for this team. I can't wait to see what comes next."