Neuqua Valley ends Mustangs' win streak

Downers South's Malcolm Herron moves around a Neuqua Valley defender.
(Patrick Gleason/For the Sun-Times News Group)

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By the middle of February, most state championship caliber teams are playing like well-oiled machines.

There haven’t been many squads around the area that have fit that description so far this season. Saturday in Downers Grove, No. 10 Neuqua Valley stepped up and proved it may belong in Peoria, thanks to a 70-31 thrashing of No. 22 Downers Grove South.

“It was an extraordinary effort,” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said. “The intensity was superhuman. I wish I could get that all the time.”

The first quarter was tight and low-scoring, ending with the Wildcats ahead 10-4. By halftime Neuqua Valley led by 12. The Wildcats opened the third quarter with a 13-4 run and never looked back.

Junior guard Rahjan Muhammad led the way for Neuqua Valley (26-1) with 17 points. The Wildcats have 18 consecutive wins.

“Lately I haven’t been playing that well,” Muhammad said. “So tonight I made a special effort to step up and help the team.”

Derek Raridon scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds and Dwayne Evans added eight points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats.

Raridon, Evans and Kareem Amedu are all 6-5. Most teams focus on those three players, so when Muhammad is on Neuqua Valley is a load to handle.

“Those big guys really open things up for me,” Muhammad said. “They are great players, so teams have to pay a lot of attention to them, it makes things easier for me.”

Heading into the game, it looked like a steep challenge for the Wildcats. Downers South had won 15 consecutive games and was riding an emotional high after a pre-game ceremony to honor Paul Runyon, who is retiring after 12 years as head coach.

“We were looking in the paper at all the wins they had in a row and we knew they thought they would be ready to upset us,” Muhammad said. “So we were definitely fired up to come out and make a statement. We tried to play like it was a sectional game.”

Senior Malcolm Herron led the Mustangs (20-5) with 10 points and Alex Gorniak scored five. Julius Staisiunas grabbed nine rebounds.

“We wanted a challenge,” Sutton said. “We needed a good test before the state tournament started. Truthfully, we were just hoping to score 50.”