For the first three quarters of Friday’s Mid-Suburban East boys basketball game between Hersey and visiting Wheeling, the outcome was pretty much in doubt.
But when Hersey senior Scott Rogowski drilled a 3-pointer to start the fourth-quarter scoring, it triggered an 11-2 run from which the Wildcats never recovered.
Junior Brent Wolff scored a game-high 17 points and classmate Griffin Ginder added 13 as the Huskies prevailed 53-38 at the Carter Gymnasium in Arlington Heights.
“In recent games we haven’t given a full fourth-quarter effort,” said Rogowski, the Huskies’ floor leader. “So we knew we had to come out strong and we knew it came down to our defense. That’s what’s going to win games for us so we were real aggressive in our 1-3-1.”
Wolff helped the Huskies (7-12, 2-3) win the first half (they led 25-22 at the break) by scoring 14 of his points, including four 3-pointers.
“My teammates were getting me the ball and I got confident and kept shooting,” said Wolff, a 6-foot-1 guard. “We’ve been playing very passive in the fourth quarter and we just wanted it more this game. We’ve been grinding at practice and it showed tonight.”
A 3-pointer by Wheeling junior guard Jaden Terrell (team-high 10 points) to start the second half tied the score at 25-25.
But Hersey used an 8-2 run to lead 33-27 after three quarters.
Four different Huskies (Wolff, Ginder, Alec Naumowicz and James Nolan) scored during the run.
“There were multiple players who stepped up,” Hersey coach Austin Scott said. “I’m really proud of them and of the guys who got in for their final 32 seconds. This is a really cohesive group.”
Ginder’s final 5 points were a layup off an assist from Andrew Wagner (7 points) and a 3-pointer with 1:35 left in the game.
“I thought Griffin stepped up to the occasion and made some things happen,” Scott said. “And I thought Alec was big for us off the bench. Plus we had individual guys who hit really big shots to make it a collective team effort.”
Wheeling (6-11, 1-4) enjoyed it biggest lead at 18-14 when Joe Jordan (7 points) made a steal near half court and then assisted on Javen Reid’s layup. Jordan then hit 2 free throws to make it 18-14.
Reid finished with 6 points while Solomon Hudson and 6-1 sophomore Aima Igiehon each chipped in 5 points apiece.
“Solomon does a great job defensively,” said Wheeling coach Mike O’Keefe. “His skills set on the offensive end continue to improve.
“Aima’s (Igiehon) terrific, a fantastic kid and awesome student. He keeps learning and takes the coaching on the floor which is exciting to see. As you can see he is long an athletic. Once he continues to develop the skill set on the offensive end, he can be really good. The sky is the limit.”
Hersey limited Wheeling to 2 field goals in the first quarter.
“Unfortunately we just didn’t make the best decisions with the ball,” O’Keefe added. “I thought we had a pretty good game plan but when you have 20-plus turnovers, you’re losing out on potentially 20-plus points. We lost by 15 so that was the story of the game.”
“Hersey went with the 1-3-1 defense a lot of the second half and that definitely disrupted our rhythm and flow. And they did a great job playing with energy and utilizing their length and athleticism in the 1-3-1.”
Dan Clawson and Ben Randall also contributed to Hersey’s offense while the defense got the job done in the final quarter.
“Ive got to credit my teammates who were jumping in the passing lanes and getting steals,” said Rogowski, who had a few key steals himself. “We’ve had a little bit of a rough stretch but we haven’t lost faith or trust. We believe in our coach and the players we have so we have to keep believing and hopefully start something.”
Boys basketball
Palatine 54, Conant 16: There are lockdown defensive efforts.
Then there’s the type of above-and-beyond accomplishment the Palatine defenders put forth Friday night at Conant.
The Pirates led 10-8 midway through the first quarter, then allowed the Cougars only 8 more points the rest of the game in a 54-16 Mid-Suburban West boys basketball victory.
That included keeping Conant scoreless through almost the final 12 minutes of the first half and holding the Cougars to zero points in the second period.
“We stepped up really big on the defensive end tonight,” said Pirates senior guard Jonathan Murray. “The guys were able to stop their number 11 (Conant junior guard Devon Ellis). who is their key player.”
“I thought we did a good job limiting their (Conant’s) offense, and they run it very well,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. “They did get some goods shots, they just weren’t going in.”
Ellis actually paced the Cougars into a quick lead with 6 early points, but four first-quarter 3-pointers from Palatine senior Tommy Swanson shot the Pirates to a 10-point lead late in the first.
Then the Palatine defense kicked into high gear in the second quarter as the Pirates outscored Conant 7-0 to take a 27-8 halftime advantage.
“I feel like we just had to come out and do what we had to do,” said Swanson. “We knew that JuJu (Palatine 6-foot-7 senior forward Julian Campbell) had an advantage on the inside, so we used that to our advantage.”
“We used our whole game plan from the week to come out and get a good win.”
Ellis ended the Conant drought with 2 early free throws after halftime, but Campbell scored 12 points in the third period.
And when Campbell hit a long 3-pointer halfway through the third, Palatine held a 35-10 lead.
“(At that point) we just had to stabilize and keep our stance on the defensive end, and limit them to as few points as possible,” said Swanson.
Both teams substituted freely in the final period, and Murray took advantage to score 6 points in the fourth.
“It was great to get in there and help out my team,” said Murray.
Campbell scored a game-high 18 points, Swanson added 12, while Ellis led Conant with 8 points.
The Pirates also held a big advantage on the boards, although Ellis excelled on the glass for the Cougars with 8 rebounds.
Abaz Karafili scored 3 points in the final stanza for Conant, while Eric Pecson, Dominic Gac, and Jermal Wlliams each connected on fourth-quarter buckets for Palatine.
“It was nice to get a lot of guys in the game and see them all get some playing time,” said Millstone, “but we also respect the Conant program so we wanted to finish out the game the right way.”
— Bill Esbrook
Girls basketball
Maine West’s girls basketball team raised its record to 18-1 and 7-0 in the Central Suburban North with a 68-15 triumph over host Maine East on Friday night in Park Ridge.
Dylan Van Fleet (19 points, 8 steals), Angela Dugalic (15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) and Brianna Hernandez (12 points, four 3-pointers) led the Warriors.
Melissa Gomez and Jane Rothweiler each chipped in 5 points.
Palatine 41, Mundelein 25: Palatine earned the nonconference win to raise its record to 11-9.
Senior Melanie Simon led the Pirates with 15 points (three 3-pointers) and sophomore Madi Stark added 12.
North Chicago 48, Round Lake 43: Lilli Burton led the host Panthers with 12 points in the Northern Lake County Conference game.
Amari Cole had 11 points for Round Lake (3-17, 1-6).
Vernon Hills 54, Highland Park 45: Freshman center Grace Koepke scored 16 points, as the visiting Cougars won the Central Suburban League North Division game.
Daniella Jarrell added 11 points for Vernon Hills (11-8, 5-2).
“We got out of the gate a little slow, but the middle quarters were very good for us,” Vernon Hills coach Paul Brettner said. “In the fourth quarter we made enough free throws to finish the game.”