Boys Basketball: Emerson Eck, hot-shooting Hinsdale Central bust out of slump to beat St. Charles East

HINSDALE – Hinsdale Central found the perfect remedy to its mini-slump Wednesday night - hot shooting.

Draining 14 three-pointers, the Red Devils broke a three-game losing streak with a 72-57 victory over St. Charles East in the first round of the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic.

[ Photos: Hinsdale Central vs. St. Charles East at Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic ]

Emerson Eck led the way with six of those trifectas and a team-high 22 points.

“It actually started with our defense,” Eck said. “It wasn’t so much about our offense. We had to bear down defensively. During our losing streak, we haven’t been doing that. And with that comes our offense.

“That was a great team win. We have a really deep team this year and everyone contributed to this game. It was great to get everyone involved.”

Leading 27-25 at halftime, Eck hit a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter as the margin was extended to seven heading into the fourth. Hinsdale Central (6-4), which only made seven 2-pointers in the contest, then closed out the game at the charity stripe, making 15 free throws over the final eight minutes.

“We have such a good team and it’s a super competitive team,” said senior Jake Quast, who finished with 11 points. “We have a bunch of guys who can play and it’s so much fun playing with these guys.

“We just have to keep playing good defense. When our defense gets going, it opens up everything else for us.”

The Saints (0-10) gave the Red Devils all they could handle, knocking down 11 shots from beyond the arc as well. Trent Warren had seven of those and scored a game-high 28 points. Raul Gor came off the bench and added 17 points and eight rebounds.

St. Charles East led by as many as five at 19-14 in the second quarter.

“We are trying to get better,” St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods said. “The kids are working really hard and I loved how they didn’t give up at the end. Hinsdale Central is a good team in a good conference and we are in a good tournament.

“We’ve got guys who play hard. We just have to limit second chance points and our turnovers.”

Hinsdale Central did have 12 offensive rebounds, eight by Chase Collignon, who tallied eight points and 13 rebounds. Evan Phillips contributed 12 points and Ben Oosterbaan had nine. All in all, nine different Red Devils entered into the scoring column.

“They were in a zone and that’s what they were kind of giving up,” said Hinsdale Central coach Nick Latorre about his team’s long-range shooting success. “And we had the right guys shooting it tonight. I also thought we did a good job on the offensive glass. But give them (St. Charles East) credit, they kept hanging in there. Their two kids really shot it well.”