Neuqua’s pressure leads to win over Streamwood

Updated: January 7, 2012 11:34PM

For 16 minutes Saturday night, Streamwood appeared poised to upset host Neuqua Valley in Naperville.

Then the Wildcats’ press took over in the second half, forcing 14 of the Sabres’ 22 turnovers for the game, and Neuqua Valley (10-6) pulled out a 60-52 Upstate Eight crossover win. That tough defense led to a flurry of transition buckets for the Wildcats.

“No question we needed to (defend better),” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said. “Our defense wasn’t very good the first half but I think we allowed eight baskets the second half.”

The Sabres (3-12) outrebounded the Wildcats 31-25 for the night and saw Julius Evans (16 points) score eight points in the first quarter and 12 in the first half. Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle netted a game-high 23 points, including 13 in the first half. Center Zach Harris returned from a fractured ankle to grab a team-high eight rebounds in his first game this season.

“We played a good game,” Streamwood coach Tim Jones said. “I thought we played hard and we’re starting to make some positive strides. We had a nice lead in the third quarter and then they came back and got the lead, but we hung in there. We played a very good team tough on their home court.”

He said Evans played his best game of the year — to the potential Jones has expected from him.

Larkin-Guilfoyle buried a deep three-pointer — his second of the second quarter — to give Streamwood a 21-8 lead and force a Neuqua Valley timeout with 6 minutes, 47 seconds left in the half. That basket capped a 13-0 run following the Wildcats’ first timeout and a 17-0 run overall.

Not to be outdone, Neuqua Valley began mounting its comeback late in the first half. After yielding the Sabres’ scoring spree, the Wildcats closed the quarter on a 19-11 run of their own to cut the Streamwood lead to 32-27 at halftime.

“We definitely wanted to come out and play team basketball and share the ball, and we really wanted to play physical, intense defense,” Larkin-Guilfoyle said. “In the first half we did it and then you’ve got to give Neuqua credit. They started playing us well and we fell apart.”

Enter Neuqua Valley junior guard Jabari Sandifer, who led the Wildcats with 22 points.

Sandifer drained a three-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer to give Neuqua Valley the lead at 45-44 — its first lead since the first quarter. Later, he gave his team its largest lead of the night — to that point — at 56-50 on a three-point play. Two more Sandifer free throws stretched the lead to 58-50.

“I knocked down one and then I hit a three after that,” Sandifer recalled. “I just felt it and I kept shooting. It was going down for me.”

Tyler Sutton (14 points) made four three-pointers and Sandifer hit three on the night. Darien Miskel pulled down a team-best six rebounds to go with his eight points.

Vince Williams scored nine for the Sabres and Dalton Lundeen grabbed six boards. Larkin-Guilfoyle made all three of Streamwood’s three-pointers.

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