Huntley grinds out victory at McHenry

Huntley's Troy Miller shoots during the first quarter of Friday's game in McHenry. Huntley won, 34-29. (Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com)

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McHENRY – Huntley took another important step toward defending its Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball title by winning in one of the toughest road gyms in the league.

That only slightly brightened the Red Raiders’ mood because, while they played their usual stifling defense, their offense again left something to be desired.

“I was never confident,” Huntley coach Marty Manning said after the Raiders’ 34-29 triumph against McHenry. “I was just angry the whole time. We played our consistent great team defense, but we were horrible on offense. Our lack of offensive execution almost makes me question our basketball skills.”

Huntley (19-2 overall, 8-0 FVC Valley) maintained its one-game lead on Dundee-Crown (14-7, 7-1) in the division, but has scored more than 45 points only once in its past five games. The Raiders jumped out to an 8-0 lead and trailed only once the entire game, at 13-12, but managed enough offense to stay just ahead of the Warriors (8-11, 3-5).

“That’s been the case all season. Coach [Manning] never questions our defense,” said 6-foot-6 forward Amanze Egekeze, who led all players with 10 points. “I was just trying to help neutralize their big men with my ability to block shots. We’ll be better as soon as the offense comes around.”

McHenry committed 25 turnovers and Egekeze blocked five shots inside. The game grew very slow in the fourth quarter as the teams combined for six points total.

“It was a weird game,” Manning said. “When we went up 12-5 [after the first quarter], I thought we were really ready to play. Then we started taking jump shots because they were easier to do, and that’s something we shouldn’t do.”

Huntley threatened to break the game open in the third quarter with a 26-19 lead, but McHenry came back on Shane Varvil’s three and Robert Tonyan’s three-point play to pull within a point. Egekeze then came up with a steal and layup, and took a pass from Ryan Craig for a dunk.

Still, the Raiders could not shake McHenry, which concerned Manning because of the Warriors’ ability to shoot threes. McHenry committed four turnovers and hit 1 of 6 field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter.

Warriors coach Tim Paddock, like Manning, lauded his team’s defensive effort while questioning the offense.

“We caused a lot of the things that held them to 34 points,” Paddock said. “We’ve been pretty good defensively all year. We just turned the ball over in some key situations and didn’t even get a shot. It was a lot of different guys. We needed a big play and just couldn’t get it.”

Huntley did not make a three-pointer or a free throw. The Raiders clung to a 32-29 lead in the final minute when McHenry was trying to foul, but point guard Troy Miller, seeing a double-team coming, whipped the ball inside to Egekeze for a clinching layup.

“We kind of played uncharacteristic on offense,” said Miller, who scored eight points. “Our defense was there again, but our offense was lacking. We can’t win a [Class 4A] regional playing [offense] like this. We have to clean it up.”

Forward Damien Zalewski led McHenry with nine points off the bench, while Varvil added eight.