Most games have a defining moment.
In Hersey’s instance, that moment was eight painful minutes long and came in the third quarter of Friday night’s Evanston sectional title game.
Seventeen missed field-goal tries later, the Huskies had dug themselves into too deep a hole, and the host Wildkits prevailed 50-38 to cap a perfect 11-0 season at home.
Suffice it to say that Hersey (17-13) is in no hurry to see the basket at the east end of Evanston’s gym any time soon.
“We got a little too excited (in the first half), but then we relaxed and took control,” said Evanston center Travis Clark, who finished with 13 rebounds despite giving up 5 inches to his 6-9 counterpart, Luke Fabrizius.
“We knew he was a 6-9 shooter,” Clark added. “I found that if you put a hand in his face, he’ll miss.”
Evanston (28-3) came out flying in the opening quarter and built a 16-6 lead by connecting on seven of its first 11 shots, a number of which were the result of seven Hersey turnovers.
The Kits made just one of its next 12 shots in a foreshadowing of things to come from that end of the court. The lone bucket, a three-pointer by Zach Morton in the final minute of the opening half, snapped Hersey’s 9-1 run and put the Wildkits up 27-21 at the break.
At that point, Fabrizius had 14 of his game-high 16 points, all but two coming from three-point land.
“We came out strong defensively in the second half, and that’s what made the game for us,” said Sean Croegaert-Key, who led Evanston with 12 points.
