Huntley storms back in fourth quarter to grab win

The law of averages played itself out for Huntley on Tuesday night. The host Red Raiders couldn’t buy a bucket in the third quarter but turned it around in the fourth to capture a 54-52 non-conference victory over Barrington.

“To be completely honest, we just started making shots,’’ Huntley coach Marty Manning said. “I think we made just one shot the whole third quarter. The ball just wasn’t going in for us because we had some good looks inside.’’

Huntley (14-4) went just 1-for-12 from the field in the third quarter and was trailing 38-26 heading in to the fourth quarter. The momentum turned around quickly for the Red Raiders as it reeled off 11 unanswered points to cut the lead to 38-37 in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter.

Blake Jacobs started it with a three pointer and raised his offensive game to score 10 of his 12 points in the second half.

“I just looked for my shot,’’ Jacobs said. “I didn’t do that much in the first half and they were playing off of me. I just wanted to give us a spark.’’

Barrington (9-13) managed to hold Huntley at bay after the initial fourth quarter burst but the Red Raiders finally went ahead on Jack Bessey’s layup with 1:35 left to play for a 51-50 lead.

“Jack was sick yesterday but I left him in today because he’s that type of kid that will fight for every possession out there,’’ Manning said. “He made a couple of huge plays for us in the second half.’’

Amanze Egekeze led Huntley with 16 points and eight rebounds and he scored the final three points of the game for the Red Raiders in spite of going just 3-for-6 from the line.

Barrington had a shot to win the game at the end but Austin Madrzyk’s three pointer from the corner came up short at the end. Zach Burt led Barrington with 15 points and seven rebounds. Rapolas Ivansuskas finished with 13 points.

“On the final play, we were trying to go inside with the ball,’’ Barrington coach Bryan Tucker said. “But we kicked it out to our best three point shooter and it just didn’t go in. I’m proud of the way our kids played tonight.’’