Leyden is the latest basketball team to discover that Hillcrest can play at a dizzying pace.
“We want to play so fast that the other team doesn’t have time to think,” Hillcrest star Jerel McNeal said Friday after the No. 4 Hawks routed Leyden 72-43 in the opener of the Proviso West Holiday Tournament.
Hillcrest (9-1) advances to the 7 p.m. quarterfinal Saturday against No. 17 Julian (4-2), a 66-56 winner over Proviso West.
Without a starter taller than 6-foot-2-inch Mario Herron, the Hawks swarmed all over the taller Eagles and held 6-7 center Aaron Jimenez to 10 points and 13 rebounds. The Hawks got even smaller when coach Tom Cappel replaced Herron with 6-0 Rayshawn Redmond in the first quarter.
“Herron was getting in the way, clogging things up, stepping out of bounds and letting their big guy get inside,” Cappel said. “He came back in later and played much more physical.”
Downsizing only made the Hawks that much quicker as they came away with 23 steals, led by point guard Maurice Acker with nine in addition to 16 points and five assists.
Hillcrest ran out to a 34-18 halftime lead and pushed the lead to 52-32 after three quarters. McNeal wound up with 20 points, 10 rebounds and five steals, while James Smith added 12 points and Herron 10.
“Make no mistake, Hillcrest is a state championship-caliber team, and that McNeal is a Big East-type of player,” said Leyden coach Ken Davis. “But I felt like we were humiliated.
“We came here with an opportunity to build a reputation for ourselves and make a statement with statewide implications about our basketball program. Instead, we didn’t show up and failed to compete. That’s the most discouraging thing.”
Included in the crowd estimated at 3,000 were scouts and coaches from 18 colleges, including Bruce Weber of Illinois, Rob Judson of Northern Illinois and an assistant coach from Kansas.
Besides speeding up the game and forcing 27 turnovers, Hillcrest was also relentless in scoring after turnovers.
“We have a lineup of five guards, so we don’t have to worry about getting the ball to the point guard after a turnover,” McNeal said. “Any one of us can get the ball and go. The faster the game, the better we like it. You could see a look in the [Leyden] players’ eyes that [things] were moving too fast.”
Leyden (4-5) was led by Alex Escarpita’s 13 points.
“Hillcrest didn’t come here just to beat Leyden,” Davis said. “It is here to win the tournament championship.
“Will this game help us later in the season? I don’t think so, because we won’t ever face a team like this again. This was a once-in-a-season experience.”
