Boys basketball: Hinckley-Big Rock comes back from eight down to beat DePue

HINCKLEY – Tyler Smith had to adjust coming off the bench Friday against DePue.

The Hinckley-Big Rock senior guard didn’t score in the first half. He and the other regular starters had limited playing time early, as coach Seth Sanderson started a different group of five seniors.

But Smith exploded for 18 points in the second half, and the Royals went from eight down after the first quarter to a 72-37 Little Ten Conference win Tuesday in their season finale on senior night.

“It was kind of a different feel for me,” Smith said. “Usually I try to shoot one or two in the beginning. It was weird coming off the bench, but once I kind of buckled down, [I] relocked in at halftime and felt confident in my shot and got shooting.”

The Little Giants (7-20, 1-8 LTC) jumped out to an 18-10 lead in the first quarter after Pancho Moreno scored eight straight points, finishing with 20 points in the game and 14 in the first quarter.

“When Pancho is going, he’s going,” DePue coach Trae Blumhorst said. “It’s tough to stop him. When he cooled off, Vance Hayes ended up getting going, and they were able to keep us in it going into the half. We just couldn’t replicate that offense in the second half, and they had too many easy looks.”

Landon Roop heated up in the second quarter, going on a personal 10-0 run as the Royals took the lead for good.

The Little Giants were down 30-26 at halftime, and the Royals (16-14, 8-2) scored the first 12 points of the second half, eight by Smith.

“The last seven or eight games he’s really shot the ball well for us,” Sanderson said. “He went through a little bit of a slump in the middle of the year, but the last six, seven, eight games he’s up in the mid-30s for 3-point percentage and shooting with confidence.”

The Royals have 10 seniors on the roster, and Sanderson was giving them all playing time, including starting a group that hasn’t seen a ton of game action this season. Sanderson said he was impressed with their offensive output, with Danny McNamee scoring eight and Josh Badal finishing with seven.

“Senior night is always a fun night,” Sanderson said. “It’s always a little different from everything else. But that first group came out, scored some buckets and played well. From there it took a little bit to get the footing back and [we] played well in the second half.”

Sanderson said the team will benefit from the experience of playing from behind when it opens the Class 1A Aurora Christian Regional at home against Lombard Prep on Monday before a potential semifinal Wednesday against the hosts.

“From now on, it’s survive and advance,” Sanderson said. “Having to battle through a quarter-and-a-half like that to try and battle back and take the lead and make sure we were able to come from behind and value possessions, that absolutely helps. You try to get through every possible situation in the world between November and [next week].”

DePue still has a regular-season game left at Midland, then opens the postseason Monday at Fulton in the 1A Wethersfield Regional. The Steamers have multiple 6-foot-4 players on the roster, so going against the 6-5 Ledbetter was a good test run.

“We were using tonight a lot as practice with [Ledbetter],” Blumhorst said. “We were kind of testing different ways to guard that. We’ll have to make some adjustments going into Fulton though.”

Vance Hayes had 13 for the Little Giants, who only had three players score in the game.

Roop finished with 14 for the Royals, while the junior Ledbetter had nine points and nine rebounds in limited playing time.

“It really shows once we lock in and buckle down, we can really play at a high level,” Smith said. “We can hang with any team we face.”