Huntley Sports Scene

This article reviews the last week of the Huntley sports scenes and looks ahead.

Huntley’s Dylan Neukirch returned for the Jacobs Tournament, in which Huntley finished an impressive second to a strong Barrington team, but I only saw him play for the first time on Tuesday night against Crystal Lake South. What stands out to me about Neukirch’s addition to an already strong and guard-oriented Huntley team is the match-ups it creates for opponents. Neukirch’s offensive game is somewhat similar to senior Tyler Brunschon’s. Both players are quality ball handlers who can knock down the three and drive past defenders. If you’re counting, that gives Huntley four players in their starting lineup – Justin Frederick and Troy Miller are the third and fourth – capable of easily scoring 15 points in a game simply by knocking down …

• Photos (3)

Huntley Boys Basketball Endures First Loss Against Fremd

The Huntley boys basketball team picked up their first loss of the season Tuesday evening against Fremd, 56-46.

 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 …

Huntley Patch's Preview/Review of the Huntley Sports Scene (12/6 - 12/18)

This is the first installment of a new weekly column exclusive to Huntley Patch. In this column, we will look back on some of the events and outstanding performances that occurred this week and forward to next week's games.

One month into the season, both Huntley's girls' and boys' basketball teams have been forced to battle their share of injuries. The girls -- now 5-3 on the season after Saturday's near comeback against Mundelein -- have played without leading scorer Kadie Lowery for the past two games and will most likely be without her on Tuesday against an 0-9 Jacobs squad. Huntley girls coach Steve Raethz said Lowery would hopefully return by the end of this current week, but wasn't completely sure. The injury to her left ankle isn't terribly serious, but the focus at this point is getting her back to 100 percent for the meat of the Fox Valley Conference season. The 5-0 Huntley boys squad lost guard/forward combo guard Dylan Neukirch to a broken hand …

• Photos (1)

Huntley Boys Basketball Returns, Demolishes Johnsburg

Behind a balanced scoring attack, Huntley knocked off the SkyHawks 73-54 Friday night.

After an eight-day layoff and with a tough non-conference game against Fremd looming next Tuesday, it would have been easy for the Huntley boys basketball team to overlook a 1-5 Johnsburg team who fell in their most recent game 48-21 to Dundee-Crown. But that wasn't the case for the Red Raiders Friday night, as a balanced offensive attack dismissed their Fox Valley Conference Fox Division competition, 73-54. Huntley was led in scoring by Justin Frederick (19 points), while Tyler Brunschon added 16 and junior Troy Miller tallied 15 points. The majority of Frederick's scoring output – 15 points, specifically – came in the first half as Huntley took a 35-27 lead into the break before committing to working the ball inside and pulling away. "…

• Photos (1)

Huntley Boys Basketball Blows Out Strong Crystal Lake Central Team

Huntley's home opener Thursday night, in the words of coach Marty Manning, "was the best game that I've coached from a Huntley team in a number of years."

Before Thursday night's game against Crystal Lake Central, Huntley boys basketball coach Marty Manning was very familiar with the Tigers, specifically their perplexing combination of size and outside shooting. That combination was something with which Huntley struggled during the off-season, losing to the Central three times during the summer, including one game by 30 points. But Thursday night's home opener played out completely different for the undefeated Red Raiders because of Huntley's energy, suffocating defense and efficiency on the offensive end. Manning's squad opened up a commanding 24-point lead in the third quarter and managed to fend off a late fourth quarter run by the Tigers to win 65-51. "I'm extremely proud of the guys," …

• Photos (3)

Huntley Boys Deal With Hampshire's Size

The Huntley boys basketball team prevailed Tuesday night against Hampshire, knowing full-well this won't be the last time they're undersized this season.

When the Huntley boys basketball team faces a talented big man this season – as they did in their season-opening game against Hampshire – expect a gameplan similar to the one they induced on Whip-Purs center Tyler Watzlawick Tuesday evening. By fronting Watzlawick in the post and applying suffocating ball pressure on Hampshire's young backcourt, the Red Raiders managed to blow a tight game, which was tied 18-18 in the second quarter, wide open. Huntley went on an 11-0 run in the second, capitalizing on 28 Hampshire turnovers to stroll to a 53-48 victory Tuesday night. The win advances Huntley to the semifinals of the Leland G. Strombom Holiday Tournament at Sycamore High School. They will play Hope Academy at 6 p.m. Friday. "It's not a …

• Photos (1)

Season Preview: 2010-2011 Huntley Boys Basketball

Huntley boys basketball alters style of play in the attempt to reach this year's goals.

For the 2010-2011 Huntley boys basketball team to achieve the goals they sat down and laid out this week – specifically, the Red Raiders hope to win the Fox Valley Conference and a Regional Title – they will have to break an old basketball cliché. That cliché: simply, basketball players must be tall.   This year's Huntley boys basketball team is everything but, with only one player in the program taller than 6-foot-4. In order for Marty Manning's team to have success this season, they know they will have to adjust their style of play on both ends of the court to take advantage of their strengths. "Pretty much every guy on our team is a guard," Manning said. "Some of the guys we'll list as a forward, but the only true forward we have is …

• Photos (1)