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Sports Page21 - PLAINDEALER-HEK \U>. Y* EI»ESUA^ KEBKI AK\ IS. I9BS McHenry defense stymies Slimko, Jacobs 54-45 Doubling their pleasure : By Dick Babbitt ! PlatndMlcr-ItanM aportawrtUr ! * ALGONQUIN - The McHcoiy ; Warriors boys' basketball team, • still showing some effect from the ' layoff due to the teacher's strike, ; still managed to post a convincing • 54-45 win over Jacobs last Friday. The win avenged an earlier one- • point overtime loss to the Golden ! Eagles at McHenry's Buckner ; Gym. Warrior coach Ken Ludwig wat­ ched his team's 17-point lead after three quarters dwindle into just an : eight-point advantage with a minute left to play. "We can't make it easy, we always make it tough on ourselves," Ludwig said. THE KEY to the Warrior win was the holding of the Fox Valley's leading scorer, Mark Slimko, to just 16 points, well below his average. McHenry did the trick with a tight 2-3 zone defense, which bottled up Slimko • throughout, as the JHS supporting crew could not cope with the stingy Warrior defense. Slimko opened the game with two baskets along the baseline, but McHenry's Pat Dunne countered with two hoops of his own to knot the score at four. Slimko and Dunne again ex- ; changed buckets, and it appeared this might turn into a personal duel between the two. But McHenry's Craig Hill and Scott Freund then got into the scoring column, and Dunne chipped in another basket, as the visitors led 12-8 after one quarter. In the second period, the War­ riors really went to work both of­ fensively and defensively. With the sticky zone holding the Eagles at bay, baskets by Dunne and Joe Tonyan, along with two 15-footers by Freund, had the Warriors ahead 22-12 at 3:15 of the quarter. The Eagles went scoreless for SVfe minutes in the early stages of the period. Both teams trotted to the lockerroom with McHenry holding a commanding 27-12 lead. THE EFFECTIVENESS of the Warrior defense is best shown by Jacobs first-half field goal shooting: 5-for-20. The third period again was all Warriors. Hill found the range and tallied eight points in the quarter, and junior center J.R. Wright had a hoop and two free throws. Freund hit another long one, and his mid-court heave at the buzzer rimmed in and out, leaving the MCHS lead at 41-24 going into the final quarter. Jacobs finally began to make a move in the fourth stanza. With the Warriors becoming a little tired, Slimko and company began to peck away at the lead. LED BY Tom Braun, who had all 10 of his points in the last eight minutes, the hosts closed to 49-41 with 1:15 remaining, but the War­ riors, under pressure, made one after another from the charity stripe (ll-of-15 in the fourth) to Pat Dome grab the well-deserved victory. The Warrior defense deserves much of the credit for the win. With the 6-1 Dunne in the center of the 2-3 zone, and Hill and Wright flanking him, they battled the 6-6 Slimko all night. . Jacobs assistant coach Stan Block said the Eagles didn't per­ form well in the contest. "McHenry just kicfted our tails all over the place. I don't unders­ tand our kids. We were shooting for a .500 season, playing at home,. and then play such a ragged game." A smiling Ludwig dwelled on the close ballgames his team has lost this season. "Give us a few more points, and we would be With the leaders." Grant hands JHS another defeat By Barb Ansell PlatndMtor-Herajd >pocUwriter JOHNSBURG - For the boys' basketball team at Johnsburg High School, the 50-38 loss to Grant Friday night was reflected everywhere except in the <• statistics. The 12-point difference in the ; two scores is somewhat deceiving. < The Skyhawks were outscored by ! just ttyree field goalvawMutre- bounded by «nly three caroms by the much-tdmr Bulldogs. But the ! number couldn't change the final ! results on the scoreboard. The i game belonged to Grant from the ; first possession of the game through to the last seconds. | Grant coach Tom Maple said his | team's defense keyed the win. "I thought our defense was very ! good in the first half, but we had too many missed opportunities in the first half, too. There should have been a much wider gap in the half time score," he added. GRANT TOOK control of the game early, pulling out to a 13-8 lead after one quarter. Two hoops by Rick Easterling, returning after a dislocated linger kept him out the lineup for three games, kept JHS close. But trouble began to brew for the Skyhawks when two attempts to inbound the ball resulted in key turnovers. Johnsburg assistant coach Bill Hurckes explained the problem. "Basically, we had a lack of ex­ ecution," he said. "We arranged the guys in a different stack, which $ras to allow us to open up the wings more. But Grant did a nice job. Our inbounds man was ! too hesitant and waited just a ! split-second too long, and we gave Grant the ball." The Bulldogs took advantage of those turnovers, and led by guard Brian Kelly, who chalked up six points in the second quarter, head­ ed into the lockerroom with a 23-16 lead. HOWEVER, Maple said he told his team at halftime that he was not satisfied with the seven-point bulge. "I didn't think the defense had to-dojinything different, but the ofMMft had to do more than just talk about the free throws and the balls that came off the boards. To M«re,-we had to put the ball in the basket." Johnsburg'sTim Shine provided a tremendous effort in the opening minutes of the third period. Twice Shine battled on the boards to claim offensive rebounds on miss­ ed shots, and twice his shots went in. His efforts brought the 'Hawks to within four points, 26-22. Grant, however, went to the free throw line seven times in the quarter, cashing in on four of those, and took a 37-26 lead into the final stanza. "JOHNSBURG DID a greafjob and truly hung in there," praised Maple. "They were within strik­ ing distance much of the time. We would go up by as much as 17 points, and we let them back in and they would pull within less than 10 points." _ The Skyhawks trailed by 11 after three and were never able to come closer than six the rest of the way. With 1:46 to play, senior guard Jeff Nichols went to the charity stripe and hit both tosses, making the score 43-37, but that was as close as the hosts would get. Johnsburg had several tur­ novers in the final quarter, and the 'Hawks were also unable to make use of their steals, and lost three jump ball possessions to Grant. "We torced a lpt of turnovers," Maple said, "but I think we equal­ ed Johnsburg with ours." Despite the victory, Maple said his team could play better. "OFFENSIVELY, we are of fcevjpg more than *^h« sdpT **©urw .veil, and we missed several shots from the two-foot .range. Those shots would have been crucial in a closer contest." The victory brought the Bulldogs to an even .500 on the season, at 11-11. Their conference record of 7-4 gives them third place in the Northwest Suburban Conference, behind Grayslake and Marengo, both at 8-3. As for the Skyhawks, Hurckes said he sees better things ahead. "We have everything to gain between now and the end of the season. Our main concern is get­ ting our momentum back as we head into the regionals. "Everything that could have gone wrong already has," he said. THINGS ARE beginning to return to status quo for Skyhawks, who have been plagued with in­ juries. Center Mark DuRei, who had been ill, returned to action against Grant, as did Easterling. The Skyhawks were led by Nichols with 11 and- Easterling with 10. Grant's Mark Kohl led all scorers with 13, followed by team­ mates Kelly and Frank Wehrstein with 12 each. "The team keeps battling back and they do have a good mental at­ titude, so you can't ask for more than that," explained Hurckes. Cary-Grove no match for rolling Warriors By Steve Metsch PteiadMter Herald Newa Service CARY . -- Unfortunately for McHenry's boys' basketball team, the Fox Valley Conference season has only three weeks remaining. For since McHenry's teachers settled their strike, the Warriors have been practically unbeatable. Saturday night, McHenry rolled to its second straight win and third in four games since returning to action. Pat Dunne scored 17 points, reserve Chris Anderson tallied 14, and McHenry held Cary-Grove to four third-quarter points for a 60-48 victory. .... The win came on the heels of Friday night's 54-45 win at Jacobs. Last Tuesday, McHenry (4-5,8-13) finished just three points shy of beating Crystal Lake South. "We had three games this week (all on the road) and the kids did a real good job.," said McHenry coach Ken Ludwig. "We pressed all three and worked hard. At least they proved they're in good shape. "THIRTEEN MORE points, and we'd be undefeated (in the FVC). Isn't that something?" Ludwig asked. McHenry was outscored by a total of 13 points in five league losses, three by one point. "I said we've been playing bet­ ter basketball," Ludwig added. "Our record is 8-13, but we're a better ballclub than that." McHenry will receive no arguments from Cary. The Tro­ jans were in the game until the se­ cond half began. McHenry led 28- 27 after a topsy-turvy first half, but Cary's shooters turned icy in the third quarter and scored four points to McHenry's 15. "We changed our pressure. Our guards went to a man-to-man up front. That helped, and they got cold in the third quarter," explain- PRICES GOOD FIB. 13«FEB. 19 LIQUOR MART 2314 W. 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CARY'S OFFENSE finally came alive in the fourth quarter, but Ludwig had already benched most of his starters. McHenry canned ll-of-14 fourth-quarter free throws (24-of-32 total). Guard Joe Tonyan was 6-of-7 from the line in the final stanza. "You couldn't ask for a nicer kid at the free-throw line. He's tough. He came in shooting 82 percent at the line," Ludwig said. Anderson was also on target, making 8-of-ll attempts. The senior swingman, who called in sick three days last week, totaled 14 points off the bench. "He made me look bad since I didn't start him," said Ludwig with a chuckle.~"He did a nice job on offense and back on defense, too. He just played a super ballgame." Cary was led by guard Mike Thelander and sophomore for­ ward Troy Lewis, with 15 and 14 points, respectively. But the next highest point-getter for C-G 0 was center Mike Malmgren with seven, all in the first half. Only three of Cary's five starters scored. C-G, (0-9, 1-17) grabbed a 14-11 f i r s t - q u a r t e r l e a d b e h i n d Malmgren's six points. Six Tro­ jans figured in the second-period scoring, and Cary seemed in good shape for its first win since Nov. 16. "In the first half, one of the things we accomplished was we Chris Anderson wanted them (the Warriors) to shoot from the perimeter. That's why we went to a zone early," first-year C-G coach Rick Podraza said. ' When we turned the ball over to their press, that gave them an opportunity to take a lead there, and we had to press on defense.". Playing a team saddled with a long losing streak isn't as appeal­ ing or easy as it sounds. "1 knew they'd be up. They're hungry. They hustle and work hard. They're going to get somebody in the FVC before the season is out. I just hope it's not us," Ludwig said. Cary has two more shots at McHenry. The two will close the FVC season on March 1 in McHenry, and open play in the Crystal Lake Central Regional March 4. "It will be difficult for us," Podraza said, "but we also hope it will be difficult for them, if not more difficult " McHenry, which knocked off Dundee-Crown in Carpentersville earlier this season, will host the FVC's co-leader Friday night. Johnsburg Businessmen stay undefeated The Johnsburg Businessmen rushed past Johnny Murphys'-The Gambler 74-60 last Wednesday night, to stay undefeated with one game left to play in Men's Recrea­ tion basketball action.. i . ̂ ie v Meyers propelled die Businessmen to a 34-24 halftime lead with 14 points, and in the se­ cond half Don Bentz and Rick Neiss took over, both scoring dou­ ble figures in the final 20 minutes to help keep Murphy's at bay. Meyers led his team with 22 points, while Neiss collected 17 and Bentz 15. . Brian Miller led all scorers with 23 for Murphy's-Gambler. Brett Decker added 12. ST. REGIS' claimed a 53-45 vic­ tory over whiles Henehan & Mclntyre. After 12 minutes of play, Regis t r a i l e d 1 7 - 1 6 , b u t a b u c k e t b y K u r t Wozny put the winners ahead for good. CHRISTOPHER'S Men's Wear took a 12-point lead into the locker­ room at the half (35-23), and then held off State Farm Insurance 63- 54 for their eighth victory in nine outings. Willie Howard led Christopher's with 18, while Frank Sexton tossed in 17. Twig Miller returned to the winner's lineup for the first time since last season, and tallied eight points in 10 minutes. HELP US UNLOAD OUR INVENTOR Y • . WE'RE LOADED UP TO OUR GILLS! k -3* HAVE YOU RECEIVED YOUR TAX RETURN YET? MATCHING SOFA AND LOVESEAT MATCHING STRIPED CHENILLE OLEFIN BLEND® FABRIC, INNERSPRING SEAT CUSHIONS, LIFE TIME WARRANTY ON FRAME AND INNERSPR INGS, ARMCAPS AND DECORATIVE PILLOWS. IN­ CLUDED. MATCHING CHAIR AVAILABLE CHOICE OF FABRICS AND COLOR (PRICE VARIES) REG. 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