Huntley, St. Charles East coming on strong
Huntley caught Cary-Grove in the loss column this week.
Now, it's a race to the finish in the Fox Valley Conference.
The Red Raiders defeated the visiting Trojans 54-46 Tuesday. Senior Uchenna Egekeze scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter as Huntley (18-5, 9-1) turned a 3-point halftime deficit into an 8-point lead.
The victory evened the season series between the FVC preseason favorites.
Cary-Grove (20-3, 10-1) won the league opener against Huntley 63-53 in Cary on Dec. 6.
"With the stakes, we needed this win," Egekeze said.
The teams do not play again in the regular season. They would meet again only if both advance to the Class 4A Dundee-Crown sectional in March.
"Would love to play them again but that's not in the cards right now," Cary-Grove coach Adam McCloud said after Tuesday's game. "Two good teams played. We lost the game."
The pressure is on both squads - each of which has two fewer losses than third-place Hampshire (15-6, 8-3) - to avoid a stumble down the stretch. Cary-Grove seeks its first FVC title since winning the Valley Division in 2009-10. Huntley won the last of four straight FVC Valley Division titles in 2013-14.
Cary-Grove has seven conference games remaining, including road tests at Crystal Lake South, Crystal Lake Central and Hampshire.
Huntley's eight remaining FVC dates include road games at McHenry, Jacobs and Prairie Ridge.
Defeating Cary-Grove was a confidence-building signature win for the Red Raiders, who lost nonconference games to Schaumburg (18-3) and Naperville Central (15-6).
"We've had a good season, but we've had a hard time getting wins against really good teams," Huntley senior Hunter French said. "This was a really good win."
Surging Saints: St. Charles East is one of the hottest teams in the area.
The Saints have won five straight games and eight of their last nine to improve to 14-6.
They enter this weekend's home games against Glenbard North and Glenbard West tied with St. Charles North tied for the DuKane Conference lead at 6-1.
The secret to their success? The Saints go all out defensively for 32 minutes and rotate a minimum of 10 players.
Staying fresh has its benefits at the offensive end of the floor since the defensive pressure results in multiple fast-break opportunities per game. St. Charles East has averaged 71.3 points over its last nine games.
"They've got tons of talent and they're playing their style really, really well," Wheaton North coach Dave Brackmann said after the Saints defeated his Falcons 83-62 last week.
The East rotation has expanded to as many as 12 players of late.
"We've just got a lot of guys who can play," St. Charles East coach Pat Woods said. "We're going with a no-superstar mentality."
The Saints enjoy balanced scoring between seniors Chase Monkemeyer (13.9 ppg), Thomas Ditsworth (10.8), Sean Sullivan (10.4) and point guard Luke Matheny (7.6)
"It's so fun," Ditsworth said. "We practice these actions all the time and we know the type of shots we get playing this style. When the shots are falling like we practice, it's always fun."
On the mend: St. Edward will be without leading scorer Erik Hill for at least two weeks.
The senior guard missed the first month of the season while recovering from an off-season knee injury.
Hill averaged 15 points per game for the Green Wave since his return to action in late December. However, in a recent practice he simultaneously rolled an ankle and sprained the ACL on the previously injured knee.
"The ankle already feels much better," Hill said Wednesday after St. Edward (8-16) fell to Aurora Central Catholic 36-26. "I hope to be (cleared) by Feb. 13."
Thanks for coming: Aurora Central Catholic coach Nate Drye was half joking when he said St. Edward athletic director PJ White should give fans a refund after the Chargers and Green Wave finished the first half of Wednesday's game in Elgin tied 10-10.
Playing without its top two scorers, both injured, St. Edward patiently passed the ball for up to two minutes per possession against ACC's 2-3 zone defense.
ACC would finally regain possession, take a quick shot, miss more often than not, then be right back on defense for another 90 seconds.
"It had to be torture for anybody who had to sit through that because I know how we felt on the bench having to watch it," Drye said. "I feel bad for anybody who actually had to pay money to come see it."
The pace picked up in the second half after ACC scored a few buckets early. That forced St. Edward to attack more. The Chargers were able to score 26 second-half points.
"We were like Loyola Marymount compared to the first half," Drye said.