On Jan. 19, Huntley picked up a 45-38 victory over the Dundee-Crown Chargers. It was just another conference win, another notch on the belt that kept the Raiders on a conference winning streak. But Dundee didn’t see it that way. Dundee took it personally. Dundee wanted another shot. Dundee wanted revenge.
They got it.
A combination of inaccurate shooting, poor ball control, and unquestionably inadequate officiating plagued the Raiders in Saturday night’s 47-38 loss to the Chargers. A five-game win streak and a perfect conference record are now history.
“We missed our layups,” said Huntley coach Marty Manning. “Our defensive effort was probably good enough to win the game, but we just missed our layups.”
Things were slow from the start, for Dundee as well as Huntley. Missed opportunity after missed opportunity. It was a back-and-forth tug-of-war of mediocrity. The score at the half was an embarrassingly low 17-15.
Huntley’s limited offensive effort was led by seniors Tommy Regan and Bryce Only and junior Amanze Egekeze, all putting up eight points. Dundee’s Dylan Kissack, Brandon Rodriguez, and James Hill-Beasly put up 14, 12, and 11 points respectively.
Although Huntley shot itself in the foot, it didn’t receive much help from the officials. The referees were quick with the whistle and killed Huntley drives multiple times. Manning dismissed the officiating as unimportant.
“I don’t blame officials ever,” said Manning. “If you’re good enough, you’ll play through poor officiating.”
This loss could put Huntley’s conference title in jeopardy. A win against Dundee would have solidified Huntley’s position and put them on pace to win another conference title. However, the path isn’t as certain after Friday. Huntley only has two games left and the team will need to play well to keep its spot.
Huntley needs to fix its performance if they plan on doing anything in the playoffs. If the Raiders can fix their offense, they should have a pretty good shot.
Huntley’s next game will be Tuesday night at Jacobs.