Huntley Boys Basketball Endures First Loss Against Fremd

 One of the perils of having a young basketball team is that sometimes players fail to stick to the game plan established coming in.

There's no denying the amount of young talent on the Huntley boys basketball team this season, but the Red Raiders couldn't get by on talent alone Tuesday night in Palatine against a skilled and experienced Fremd squad led by three-point sharpshooter Zach Monaghan.

The game plan against Monaghan, who has signed a scholarship to play at South Dakota State next year, was to provide constant help, especially off screens, in the attempt the dead-eye shooter from getting open looks at the basket from behind the arc. The Red Raiders failed to do that in the first half, as Monaghan made five three pointers in the game's first 16 minutes to give the Vikings a nine-point lead at the half.

Huntley would cut the lead to five in the second half, but Fremd's offensive execution was the difference on the night as the Vikings gave Huntley their first loss of the season 56-46.

"Contain him and don't let him get open looks. Rotating over on help-side, [also]," said Huntley senior Tyler Brunschon of the team's game plan against Monaghan, who scored 21 points on an efficient 8-12 effort.

"The thing that went wrong was our defense. We didn't step up and play with a lot of intensity. This is a big loss for us coming off 5-0. First loss of the season and the big thing we did was that we didn't play good defense."

Even though Huntley (5-1) held Fremd's best player to only 12 shots, each attempt was a quality look at the basket.

While Monaghan's open opportunities were diminished in the second half because of Huntley's team defense, the Vikings' role players were able to inflict damage from that point forward. Fremd's Jim Scharfe and center Jack Konopka's offensive outputs were able to nullify the identical scoring amounts by Brunschon (15 points), Huntley's leading scorer, and Justin Frederick (13 points).

Fremd (5-4) led by 15 multiple times in the fourth quarter before Huntley pressed and pushed back towards the lead as the fourth quarter waned.

"I thought in the second half, we played a little bit better offensively," Huntley coach Marty Manning said. "But we couldn't get a stop on them to get a run. We'd hit a three and cut it to seven or five and they would come back down and get a three on top and get it back to eight or nine. We never really climbed over the hump. So even though we might have played even with them (in the second half), it didn't feel like it."

Next up for Huntley will be a tough stretch before the holiday, as they travel to Prairie Ridge at 7 p.m. Friday night before beginning play in the prestigious Jacobs Tournament on Saturday evening against Woodstock Marian.

Despite enduring their first loss of the season, the important thing at this point for Manning and the Red Raiders is learning from their mistakes. While Monaghan beat them Tuesday night, the South Dakota State-bound shooting guard's performance reiterates the importance of executing a game plan, which is something which figures to prove vital throughout the rest of the season for the Red Raiders.

"To be honest, [Monaghan] scared me more than anybody," Manning said. "Our game plan was to make somebody other than Monaghan beat us and we didn't execute the game plan. He beat us.

"He got three open looks off screens where guys were supposed to be showing on that  (at the end of the first half). I've got a pretty young team – I've only got one senior playing out there. It's a game they can learn from about understanding the game plan and what they're supposed to be doing."