16 points by sophomore Amanze Egekeze and a fourth quarter burst by junior Bryce Only were enough to help the Huntley boys basketball team overcome poor play and defeat rival Jacobs 50-37 on Wednesday night.
The Red Raiders (14-1 overall, 4-0 FVC) struggled both offensively and defensively in a tussle with the equally sloppy Golden Eagles (3-14, 1-1). The Raiders were bouyed by Egekeze’s 16 points, along with a 14 point effort by Only, who scored 8 of his points in the fourth quarter. The Eagles nearly pulled off an upset behind 10 points by senior John Holbrook, in addition to taking advantage of numerous Huntley errors early in the game.
“I’d give this game a D minus,” said Huntley head coach Marty Manning. “We need more energy, and we need to think about how bad we played. Overall, we are not happy with this performance.”
Both teams stumbled out of the gates, with the first points coming 2:30 into the first quarter off of a 3-pointer by Huntley senior Troy Miller. Both teams turned the ball over multiple times, and shot poorly from the field. Huntley managed to avoid the foul trouble it has run into recently, however, and managed to hold a 14-10 lead by the end of the quarter behind 5 points by Miller.
The second quarter saw more of the same, but an Egekeze dunk off of Huntley’s first successful alley-oop this season brought some life to Huntley’s home crowd, which lacked its usual volume and intensity. Jacobs mangaed to pull closer to Huntley at the end of the quarter, and went in to halftime down by only two points with Huntley leading 24-22.
Egekeze dominated from the get-go as the third quarter began, scoring less than a minute in on a fadeaway shot from the field, and led Huntley as it started the second half with a dominate 8-0 run. Mediocrity soon regained prominence though, and the game continued to ebb back and forth until Huntley got a considerable scare near the end of the quarter. As Egekeze attempted to rebound off of a failed shot by Jacobs, he was hit in the left leg by a player and appeared to limp off the court. Egekeze returned, however, after being checked out by Huntley athletic trainer Lisa Noll.
“The guy kind of just came around for the rebound,” said Egekeze. “It wasn’t like he went for me or anything, he just fell and took my leg out from under me.”
Only seemed to explode for the Raiders in the fourth quarter on both offense and defense, scoring 8 and providing numerous blocks including a wrap-around with 1:53 left in the fourth. Egekeze slammed down a two-handed dunk with less than a minute remaining, and Huntley sealed its 10 consectutive victory.
“We were bad in the first half, and not much better in the second half.” said junior TJ Adams. “But we were strong down the stretch, and that was enough to get it done.”
Huntley will face Elgin (15-1) in the fifthteenth annual Hoops Showdown at the Sears Center in Hoffman Estates on Saturday, before taking on Cary-Grove at home on 1/24.
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