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BURLINGTON – Huntley held tight onto the ball in the final minute, leading Burlington Central by one point and expecting the Rockets to foul.
Red Raiders guard Ethan Blackmore drove the left baseline and guard Omare Segarra perfectly read where he needed to be and slashed down the lane.
“Ethan was in the corner and I knew if I cut to the basket I was going to be wide open and he made a beautiful pass to me and I made the layup,” Segarra said.
The Red Raiders withstood an anxious 23 more seconds with three defensive stops to hold off Central 44-41 in their Fox Valley Conference boys basketball game Friday night.
In stark contrast to its 49-25 loss at Crystal Lake South on Wednesday, Huntley (8-3, 4-2 FVC) did a lot more things right and looked like a different team.
“We’ve been on the road for a minute. We have to stay with the grind,” said Raiders guard Bryce Walker, who tied Segarra for the team lead with 12 points. “Shooting nights might not be there like that South game. We didn’t make a 3. We just have to have confidence and bring that with our team and make shots and play defense.”
Christian Walker came off the bench to spark the Raiders with two 3-pointers in the first half. Huntley, which trailed South 18-7 at halftime on Wednesday, led 19-8 at halftime against the Rockets (6-3, 4-2).
“We talked a lot about having more confidence in ourselves,” Huntley coach Collin Kalamatas said. “There wasn’t a magic potion we used in a 48-hour turn-around.
“We didn’t do anything differently in terms of our scheme, the guys just had a better approach. We came in with a lot more confidence. Our body language looked good before the game. We looked like we were ready to play tonight, Wednesday we didn’t look that way.”
Central coach Brett Porto started four freshmen and 6-foot-7 senior Myles Lowe in the second half and got the boost he was looking for. Ryan Carpenter, in his first varsity action, hit a 3 and another short jumper to get the Rockets going.
While Central never took the lead, it tied Huntley four times, the last at 39-39 with 1:40 remaining. Walker scored on a three-point play, then Lowe banked in a 6-footer to make it 42-41 with 1:00 remaining.
“Those guys came in and played really well for us,” Porto said. “Our defense continues to be fine and we’re looking for those sparks offensively and maybe we found some.
“We’ve played some long stretches where we’ve played slow and been fortunate enough to climb back and win some of those games. We can’t keep spotting teams points without scoring like we have been.”
Walker scored seven of his points in the fourth quarter.
“I felt like I needed to drive more,” he said. “They were pressing us and I started attacking and had to finish.”
Huntley stopped the Rockets with 10 seconds remaining and Segarra was fouled, but missed two free throws. On the next possession, Jeffrey Cruickshank intercepted a pass and was fouled, but with 4.6 to go, he missed two free throws.
Central needed to go the length of the court and was out of timeouts. Walker picked off the pass at halfcourt and dribbled out the remaining time.
“It never bothered them,” Kalamatas said. “The coach had the butterflies, fine. The guys on the floor who were making the plays, they were never shaken.”
Huntley 44, Burlington Central 41
HUNTLEY (44)
Walker 5 2-3 12, Segarra 4 4-6 12, Crosby 0 2-2 2, Blackmore 2 3-3 7, Sweeney 1 0-0 2, Wilson 2 0-0 6, Cruickshank 1 0-2 2, Bonsu 0 0-0 0, Darragh 0 1-2 1. Totals: 15 12-18 44.
BURLINGTON CENTRAL (41)
West 2 4-4 8, Kerr 1 2-4 4, Lowe 6 2-2 14, Johnson 2 1-2 6, Magan 0 0-0 0, Braden 2 0-0 4, Carpenter 2 0-0 5, Cumpata 0 0-0 0, Moore 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 9-12 41.
Huntley 10 9 8 17 – 44
Central 2 6 14 19 – 41
3-point goals: Huntley 2 (Wilson 2), Central 2 (Johnson, Carpenter). Total fouls: Huntley 17, Central 18. Fouled out: Lowe. Technical fouls: Kerr.