Huntley boys, girls make key plays in fourth quarter to win pair of games at Burlington Central

Huntley held tight onto the ball in the final minute, leading Burlington Central by one point and expecting the Rockets to foul.

Red Raiders guard Ethan Blackmore drove the left baseline and guard Omare Segarra perfectly read where he needed to be and slashed down the lane.

“Ethan was in the corner and I knew if I cut to the basket I was going to be wide open and he made a beautiful pass to me and I made the layup,” Segarra said.

The Red Raiders withstood an anxious 23 more seconds with three defensive stops to hold off Central 44-41 in their Fox Valley Conference boys basketball game Friday night.

In stark contrast to its 49-25 loss at Crystal Lake South on Wednesday, Huntley (8-3, 4-2 FVC) did a lot more things right and looked like a different team.

“We’ve been on the road for a minute. We have to stay with the grind,” said Raiders guard Bryce Walker, who tied Segarra for the team lead with 12 points. “Shooting nights might not be there like that South game. We didn’t make a 3. We just have to have confidence and bring that with our team and make shots and play defense.”

Christian Walker came off the bench to spark the Raiders with two 3-pointers in the first half. Huntley, which trailed South 18-7 at halftime on Wednesday, led 19-8 at halftime against the Rockets (6-3, 4-2).

“We talked a lot about having more confidence in ourselves,” Huntley coach Collin Kalamatas said. “There wasn’t a magic potion we used in a 48-hour turn-around.

“We didn’t do anything differently in terms of our scheme, the guys just had a better approach. We came in with a lot more confidence. Our body language looked good before the game. We looked like we were ready to play tonight, Wednesday we didn’t look that way.”

Central coach Brett Porto started four freshmen and 6-foot-7 senior Myles Lowe in the second half and got the boost he was looking for. Ryan Carpenter, in his first varsity action, hit a 3 and another short jumper to get the Rockets going.

While Central never took the lead, it tied Huntley four times, the last at 39-39 with 1:40 remaining. Walker scored on a three-point play, then Lowe banked in a 6-footer to make it 42-41 with 1:00 remaining.

“Those guys came in and played really well for us,” Porto said. “Our defense continues to be fine and we’re looking for those sparks offensively and maybe we found some.

“We’ve played some long stretches where we’ve played slow and been fortunate enough to climb back and win some of those games. We can’t keep spotting teams points without scoring like we have been.”

Walker scored seven of his points in the fourth quarter.

“I felt like I needed to drive more,” he said. “They were pressing us and I started attacking and had to finish.”

Huntley stopped the Rockets with 10 seconds remaining and Segarra was fouled, but missed two free throws. On the next possession, Jeffrey Cruickshank intercepted a pass and was fouled, but with 4.6 to go, he missed two free throws.

Central needed to go the length of the court and was out of timeouts. Walker picked off the pass at halfcourt and dribbled out the remaining time.

“It never bothered them,” Kalamatas said. “The coach had the butterflies, fine. The guys on the floor who were making the plays, they were never shaken.”

Girls game: Burlington Central sophomore guard Jordyn Charles buried a 3-pointer in the final minute of the third quarter Friday as the Rockets looked to make a move against Fox Valley Conference leader Huntley.

The Red Raiders held a one-point lead entering the fourth and simply took over.

Huntley was dominant on both ends of the floor, having its most productive offensive quarter and holding Central to 1-of-11 shooting.

Anna Campanelli, Cassidy Serpe and Paula Strzelecki had seven points apiece in the final quarter, and the Raiders pulled away for a 56-36 win in their FVC game. With the victory, Huntley (8-2, 6-0 FVC) remained undefeated in conference play and secured their 34th consecutive FVC win.

Huntley led Central 33-32 after three quarters and outscored Central 23-4 the rest of the way.

“We talked at the end of the third that we weren’t going to keep trading buckets with them,” said Campanelli, who led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. “We needed to start getting defensive stops, and that would obviously lead to offense.

“We just had a lot of people step up, hitting big shots and dealing with [Central’s] pressure. It took everyone.”

In the fourth, Huntley allowed only a 3 from freshman Audrey LaFleur and a free throw from senior Emma Payton.

Payton, a 6-foot forward, led the Rockets with 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Huntley coach Steve Raethz had Serpe, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, match up against Payton in the fourth quarter.

“[Serpe] stepped up and did a nice job in the fourth quarter with guarding Payton. She did a really nice job of kind of limiting her touches,” Raethz said. “[Payton] was really good for them for long stretches of that game. She was tough to guard.

“It was a great job by all of our kids. It showed a lot of mental toughness when some things didn’t go well for us. We bounced back and had a great fourth quarter.”

Serpe was second on the Raiders with 14 points and made two 3s. She has enjoyed more minutes this season as a starter after Huntley graduated eight.

Serpe said the new role has taken some getting used to.

“At the beginning, I was really stressed,” Serpe said. “I was scared to be on the court, but I have great teammates that helped me gain that confidence. Now I really enjoy being on the court.”

Campanelli has seen Serpe become a more impactful player for the Raiders.

“Guarding [Central’s] best player and being able to shut her down really helped us with our lead in the fourth,” Campanelli said. “I’m just really proud of how far she’s come with her confidence offensively and defensively.”

Strzelecki added 12 points and eight rebounds for Huntley, while Alyssa Borzych and CeCe Romano each had four.

Charles finished with nine points and three 3s for Central (5-5, 4-2), Emersyn Fry scored six points on two 3s, and LaFleur had five points.

Huntley scored the game’s first nine points and led 18-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Central, which never led, outscored the Raiders 15-8 in the second quarter to cut the lead to 26-21 at halftime.

Rockets coach Mike Carani felt his team ran out of energy.

“I felt like our girls were in the groove, they knew what to look for and what to attack,” Carani said. “I think they just ran out of gas. I felt good about where we were. It just kind of got away from us. ... We tried to match up on [Campanelli] with different girls to try and slow her down. I felt like we were effective at times. But she’s a great player and found ways to create and still get her points.”

–Alex Kantecki, Shaw Local