Hersey sets the pace at Meadows

After Hersey put up 48 points against Rolling Meadows in a frenetic first half while holding the Mustangs to 26, there was one burning question for the Huskies opening the third quarter.

Could they keep up the pace?

Turns out they could and then some, especially on the defensive end.

Putting together possibly their most complete game of the season against the top team in the Mid-Suburban East, visiting Hersey outhustled, outmuscled and outplayed the home team in 70-52 victory.

“We had a chip on our shoulder after our game against Prospect,” said Huskies senior guard Sean Reszotko, referring to last Saturday’s loss to here Hersey led by 10 points late only to fall at the last second. “We came out tonight wanting to leave it all on the court.”

Reszotko led the way for the Huskies (8-11, 4-3) with 19 points, with Kevin Kozil and Stefan Vucicevic scoring 13 apiece and Joe Mailloux grabbing 6 boards.

Hersey owned more than a 2-to-1 rebounding advantage over Meadows and hit 5-of-11 from 3-point range, while holding the Mustangs (12-6, 6-1) to 8-of-30 from behind the arc.

“We had a few lulls,” said Hersey coach Steve Messer, “but we were able to refocus and keep getting the ball inside. We had great hustle, and that smooths over a lot of mistakes.

“We rebounded well and got to a lot of loose balls, and did the little stuff that doesn’t always show up in the scorebook but makes a whale of difference in the game.”

Hersey opened up a 25-point lead at the end of the third quarter, but the Meadows “bench mob,” led by 3-pointers from Mike Weingart and Matt Dennis, scored the first 7 points of the fourth quarter to make things interesting.

But the Huskies were able to quickly recover and a well-timed 3 from Kozil gave the momentum back to the visitors.

“You’ve got to give all the credit in the world to Hersey tonight,” said Meadows coach Kevin Katovich, whose team was led in scoring by Michael Rose with 10 points. “They came out ready to play, they were agressive and physical, and we didn’t respond.”

Justin Jobski added 7 points for Hersey while teammates Vuk Vukovic and Mailloux each scored 6.

“We played the same type of game today as we did Tuesday against Lake Park (a 52-38 Huskies loss),” said Messer, “but against the Lancers we weren’t able to knock down our shots. Tonight, we put ’em in.”