Boys basketball: Johnsburg’s third quarter spurt does in Woodstock in KRC action

WOODSTOCK – Johnsburg didn’t even talk about applying full-court pressure while trailing Woodstock by one point at halftime.

The Skyhawks reconsidered 2:02 into the second half after the Blue Streaks pushed their margin to six. The results were everything they wanted.

Johnsburg forced seven turnovers in the first 3:58 of the second half, hit three 3-pointers in a 37-second span and seized control on its way to a 72-59 Kishwaukee River Conference boys basketball victory Wednesday at James M. Shipley Gymnasium.

Skyhawks coach Mike Toussaint gave his players all the credit for executing what they talked about in a timeout with 5:58 to go in the third.

“We went 1-2-2 [zone], which we’d never played,” Toussaint said. “That’s the good thing about these guys, they adapt and they’re coachable. We hadn’t practiced it. They’re basketball guys, and they understand.

“We showed them in a timeout where we wanted them to be, and we ran our regular [full-court] press, then went back into the 1-2-2 [in half court]. That changed everything.”

Johnsburg (7-11, 4-0 KRC) is up two games in the loss column against the rest of the conference teams. Woodstock is 12-7, 4-2.

Until that point, it had been a back-and-forth game with both teams tossing in 3s all over. Both teams had seven 3s at halftime.

The Streaks’ Max Beard hit a 3 to start the second half, and Ben Person answered with a 3 for the Skyhawks. Woodstock’s Sam Chapman hit a 3 and Beard scored on a layup for a 44-38 lead, prompting Toussaint’s crucial timeout.

“We knew they were hitting shots all game, we decided to go to the 1-2-2 and put a little pressure on them,” Skyhawks guard JT Schmitt said. “Everybody stepped up, 1-5, we all stepped up and forced a lot of turnovers and those turnovers led to lots of good in-and-out 3s.

“That [3s] is our main thing. That’s what we do.”

Johnsburg shoots about 33% and hits about 10 3s per game. The Skyhawks trailed 45-40 with 5:23 to go in the third when they went on an 11-0 run and took the lead for good.

Jayce Schmitt, JT’s sophomore brother, hit a 3, Jarrel Albea made a free throw, then JT Schmitt and Ashton Stern each hit a 3 in a span of 37 seconds.

Woodstock barely got a shot off in that stretch as the Skyhawks kept coming up with turnovers.

“They came out with their press and we panicked,” Streaks coach Ryan Starnes said. “We talked about it on film how they pressure, they deny, here’s how we need to go and they completely sped us up and caused some turnovers and when you turn it over against them, the way they shoot it, it turns into 3 real fast.

“We just struggled to handle their pressure and it led to some real quick baskets and it got away from us in the third quarter and we struggled to get back into it.”

Jayce Schmitt led all players with a career-high 24 points and hit four 3s.

“I had a good warmup, making most of my shots,” Schmitt said. “Then, I got into the paint and made a lot of my layups.

“We started applying pressure and getting a bunch of steals and started making shots. There was a lot of communication on defense.”

JT Schmitt and Ben Person each tossed in 15 points and had three 3s. Person also grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.

Beard and Spencer Cullum led Woodstock with 17 points each. Sam Chapman added 11. Cullum and Keaton Perkins each had 11 rebounds.

Starnes knew what Johnsburg was capable of and saw it materialize in the third quarter.

“We talked about it a lot,” Starnes said. “They’re good at short, little spurts. It’s how you respond to that. We struggled to get over the hurdle, we kind of hung our heads a little bit and that doesn’t work against a team like this.

“You have to fight back, and I felt like we didn’t have that fight back.”