Huntley Holds on to Survive Hard-Charging CL South

CRYSTAL LAKE – With a 10-point advantage after the third quarter against an undermanned Crystal Lake South squad, the Huntley boys basketball team seemed to have a vice grip on Tuesday evening’s Fox Valley Conference Valley Division opener.

But that all changed in the fourth.

The Red Raiders achieved a double-digit advantage in the second half on the strength of their zone defense, which forced the Gators into a shooting slump for most of the third quarter. But, with time running down in the third, Collin Stitch hit a pair of three-pointers to give Crystal Lake South confidence on the offensive end heading into the game’s final eight minutes.

The Gators – behind strong play on the interior from Tyler Kretchmer – began to knock down open looks in the fourth, cutting Huntley’s lead to two points before calling a timeout trailing by two with 5.1 seconds remaining.

Crystal Lake South coach Dan DeBruycker used the timeout to draw up an open look at the buzzer for senior guard Ryan Price, but the shot came up short and Huntley escaped with a 45-43 win in both teams’ conference opener.

“First thing that really came to mind was box out,” said Huntley senior Dylan Neukirch about what went through his mind as Price shot the potential game-winning shot. “Then when I saw the shot go up, I thought ‘Please don’t go in’ because we had the lead the majority of the game and to lose like that would just be a heartbreaker, especially with it being the first conference game. We really wanted to start off on the right foot.”

And Huntley did just that with a strong defensive effort against a much taller Crystal Lake South team and, offensively, receiving scoring from a variety of different scorers. Neukirch led the team with 13 points and three rebounds, while Tyler Brunschon added 10 points and Troy Miller put in 11.

For Neukirch, this week marks his third week back after breaking his hand in pre-season practice. In his return, the 6-3 senior has made up for lost time, earning all-Jacobs Tournament honors and leading the Red Raiders (12-3, 1-0 Fox Valley Conference Valley) to an important road win Tuesday night.

“Yeah, I think it is,” said Neukirch when asked if his offensive game is entirely back after his injury. “I haven’t really had any problems with it. Every time I’ve hit the floor, it hasn’t really bothered me. I feel fine.

“It is a little surprising (that it’s returned so quickly) because in practice I never shoot very good. In warm-ups, I try to shoot the shots I’m going to shoot in the game and just see if I can make them during the game.”

With Huntley’s lack of size on the interior, Crystal Lake South (9-5, 0-1 FVC Valley) was led in scoring by Kretchmer, who poured in a game-high 17 points and snared eight rebounds. Kretchmer was a key in the Gators’ comeback, drawing attention in the paint and, as a result, creating open shots for Crystal Lake South’s outside shooters.

The one statistical area which doomed Crystal Lake South was the difference in turnovers. Huntley, with their bevy of ball handlers, only committed six turnovers, while the Gators had 16, a huge discrepancy in a one-possession game.

“Very pleased that we got a conference road win. It wasn’t easy,” Huntley coach Marty Manning said. “I didn’t expect them to quit. We kind of forced them to beat us from the outside and they missed so many shots at the start of the second half that they’re going to start going in for them and they did. I knew they could come back.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy against them because they’re a deep team and a very senior-experienced team. We’re very happy with the outcome.”