Stay Connected with YourSeason
Boys Basketball: Hillcrest too much for Oak Forest
Oak Forest’s game plan Friday night was to force Hillcrest to shoot from the outside.
The strategy was effective in the first quarter, with the Hawks holding a slim 9-5 lead.
Then the second quarter arrived, and so did Hillcrest’s shooting touch.
The Hawks canned five three-pointers in the period, turning a four-point lead into a 16-point advantage at the break and cruised to a 64-29 South Suburban Blue victory over host Oak Forest.
The No. 18 Hawks (18-4, 10-0) converted 8-of-15 threes on the evening and were a tidy 27-of-53 from the floor.
“We knew we had to give up something, so we tried to keep the ball out of the paint and make them shoot from the perimeter,” Oak Forest coach Matt Manzke said. “I liked the tempo the first quarter. It was right where we wanted it.”
Then the Hawks’ Jalen Loving started the second period with a putback and Brent Buchanan followed with a three.
Buchanan added another trey after converting a layup to cap an 11-2 run that made it 20-7. Kyle Funkhouser responded with a three for the Bengals that momentarily stanched the bleeding.
Loving buried a three from the top of the key and Jovan Mooring drilled a trey at the halftime buzzer.
Just like that it was 31-15.
“Hillcrest can do that to you,” Manzke said. “They create so much havoc defensively. They are just deep. There’s nobody on that team you can lay off.”
Mooring led the way with 13 points, followed by Loving with 12 and Buchanan with 10. Ten Hawks found their way to the scoresheet.
“The most fun thing about this team is you know someone is going to step up,” Hillcrest coach Don Houston said. “We can easily go 10-deep. We have a tendency not to play hard all the time. But we’re starting to get through to them about that.”
Mooring said there are times when he and his teammates aren’t as focused as they need to be.
“We come out a little too excited and pumped up,” said Mooring, a 6-foot-1 guard. “But eventually we calm down and get it together.”
Oak Forest was 10-of-36 from the field, including a 3-of-18 effort from behind the arc. Funkhouser led the way for the Bengals (10-10, 3-6) with eight points.
© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.
Cell Phone Alerts
Comments Click here to view or make a comment