Johnsburg gets hot from 3, runs away from Prairie Ridge at Hinkle Holiday Classic

ALGONQUIN – Johnsburg junior guard Ashton Stern wasted almost no time showing off his sweet touch and impressive range with three 3-pointers in the first quarter against Prairie Ridge.

In the second, it was sophomore guard Trey Toussaint’s turn to light up the scoreboard.

Toussaint matched Stern from behind the arc as the pair combined to sink six of Johnsburg’s 11 3s in the first half.

A 16-point lead at halftime only grew larger for the Skyhawks, who topped the Wolves 70-49 Thursday afternoon in the consolation bracket semifinals at Jacobs’ Hinkle Holiday Classic.

Johnsburg (5-7), which improved to 2-1 in the 16-team tournament, advances to play Grant for the consolation championship at 1:30 p.m. Friday. Prairie Ridge (4-8), now 1-2 in the tournament, will meet Larkin at noon in the consolation third-place game.

Stern, who connected on 3 of 4 shots in the first six minutes, had a simple plan of attack Thursday.

“Whenever you’re feeling it, just look at the rim and shoot it,” said Stern, who finished with 12 points on four 3s. “It’s the day after Christmas, and usually everybody kind of comes out slow, but we came out hard. We were attacking the basket and hustling for rebounds.

“We wanted to start fast.”

Johnsburg made only two 3s in the second half – one each from Stern and Toussaint – but the damage already was done.

“That’s the best shooting team we’ve seen all year,” Wolves first-year coach Brian Frericks said. “Anyone can shoot it. We tried to adjust our defense to take that away. I thought we got better in the second half, but we dug ourselves an early hole, and it was tough to climb out of. It all starts with on-ball defense, not letting them penetrate too deep and also getting out and keeping our hands up.”

Johnsburg shot 60% (15 of 25) from the field in the first half for a 41-25 lead. The Skyhawks' final five field goals of the second quarter were all 3s – three by Toussaint and one apiece from Jayce Schmitt (game-high 19 points, two 3s) and Riley Johnson.

Toussaint, whose brother Zach graduated from Johnsburg in 2019 as McHenry County’s all-time leading scorer in boys basketball with 2,249 points, started the year playing on both JV and varsity.

Toussaint now is playing more regular minutes on varsity. That makes the Skyhawks, a group that was already deep with talented long-range shooters, even more difficult to defend.

“He can really shoot it, and I think he sees the floor really well,” said Johnsburg coach Mike Toussaint, Trey’s uncle. “He’s got that basketball mind. In the summer for us, he was probably a top-three or -four scorer.

“The shot wasn’t falling earlier, but now it’s starting to fall. When he’s on, he’s one of our better shooters.”

Trey Toussaint said he is confident to shoot from anywhere on the court, something Zach was well known for – routinely making shots from the volleyball line at 27 feet away.

“Every shot I have a good feeling it’s going in,” said Trey Toussaint, who was one of three Skyhawks to finish in double figures with 14 points. “I think I’ve settled into the speed of the game more, and I’m getting my shot off quicker. I feel ready for the big moment when they come.”

Stern said Toussaint has been a big addition.

“He’s a great spark plug for us off the bench and hitting those big shots,” Stern said. “And he’s a fun guy to be around, too.”

Prairie Ridge was led by Eli Loeding with 17 points and seven rebounds. Ben Gablenz tossed in 11 points, and Owen Voight and Sam Kirk both had six. Johnsburg’s Danny Loud also finished with six points.

Frericks said Loeding and Gablenz have been leading the Wolves early on.

“They do a lot for us,” Frericks said. “Ben is a very smart basketball player. He played an amazing game against Barrington in this tournament, and Eli had a great game for us the other day. Both those guys, we kind of go as far as they take us offensively and defensively. They’re great leaders, great motivators, and they’ve done a ton for us.”