Despite playing without leading scorer Joe Pace’s 20 points per game, Hersey got 24 points and 23 rebounds from forward Mike Kulbeda as it edged Libertyville 60-53 Saturday night in Arlington Heights.
Early on the Huskies (8-12) came out hot from behind the arc, hitting three of their first five shots, and built a 10-4 lead. In contrast, the Wildcats (10-10) started the game flat as a pancake as they committed four turnovers in the first three minutes and went 1 of 6 from the field.
The Wildcats gathered themselves to climb back into the ballgame by the end of the period, cutting the Huskies’ lead to 14-12 on a layup by Brian Hamlett.
“To say we came out flat is an understatement,” said Libertyville coach Max Sanders. “But we got things going late in the first and had a chance to put the game away in the second.”
Sanders was correct as the Wildcats began the second period on a 11-1 run to grab the lead at 23-15, During the run Hamlett, who led the Wildcats with 19 on the night, teamed with center Jim Oboikowitch to score all 11 points, but in the waning minutes of the quarter the Huskies shut down this tandem and cut the Wildcats lead to 26-22 at the half.
“We switched defenses after their run and were able to pressure the ball a little more to create some things offensively,” said Hersey coach Don Rowley.
In the second half Kulbeda took over the game. scoring 16 points and grabbing 15 rebounds, while the Wildcats couldn’t find anyone who could score and watched their four-point lead turn into a eight-point deficit at 48-40 by midway through the fourth.
“No one on the team stepped up when we needed a leader, we could have put the game away in the second, but after they came back we stopped playing smart basketball,” said Sanders.
With the lead the Huskies moved the ball well and hit 9-of-11 free throws in the final period to grab the victory.
“We didn’t play like we wanted win,” added Sanders.
With their leading scorer out with a groin injury, coach Rowley said he challenged his team to play a full 32 minutes at maximum effort.
“Both last night and tonight were a really good showing of our character as a team,” said Rowley. “Last night we lost a tough one to Palatine, then to come back and knock off Libertyville is great.”
In addition to Kulbeda’s effort the Huskies got scoring from everywhere as Justin Kerr, David Hess, and Matt Grandziel each had eight points on the night and each Huskie that entered the game scored.
“Without Pace we defined everyone’s role more clearly and Kulbeda, Kerr, and Grandziel really picked it up tonight,” added Rowley.
On the Wildcat side of the ball impressions of the game were not quite as high as coach Sanders characterized his teams’ effort as pathetic.
“We just played stupid and badly tonight,” said Sanders.
