Raider Nation was a sea of white at Friday night’s boys basketball game against McHenry.  The stands were packed as Huntley students showed up to see the Raiders trounce the Warriors.  Unfortunately, that is not what they saw.  Despite pulling out a 43-35 win over McHenry, Huntley put up a subpar performance and made what should have been a blowout an extremely close game.

Huntley took charge of the floor early, putting up an early 9-0 lead.  Things slowly got worse as the Warriors chipped away at the Raiders’ lead and gained momentum.  McHenry eventually tied the game up in the third quarter, but never took the lead.  A few late baskets gave Huntley a slight edge and pushed them to a victory.

“I think we matched up well,” said coach Marty Manning.  “But I think if we played better we would have won by more.”

Both Huntley and McHenry were limited offensively and the result was a very low-scoring game.  Huntley’s offensive effort was made up of several players with junior forward Amanze Egekeze leading the charge with 13 points.  However, McHenry seniors Korey Partenheimer and Damian Zalewski made up most of the Warriors’ offensive game, putting up 15 points and eight points respectively.

Huntley has four games left before the playoffs.  The team was playing extremely well until Friday night.  If the poor performance against McHenry is any indication of Huntley’s chances in the playoffs, we may be in for a rough ride.

“I don’t think we’re ready for the playoffs after tonight,” said Manning.  “We have a long way to go.”

The good news is Friday’s game is just ONE game.  We don’t need to overreact; chances are the loss is just a blemish on what has come to be a pretty good team.  Perhaps the best sign is that the team could pull out a win.  The team was plagued by turnovers, a lack of rebounds, and just overall bad decision-making.  But they did win.  A good team always finds a way to win and they did just that.

Huntley’s next game will be at Crystal Lake South next Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Photos by: Mike Krebs/The Voice