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ALGONQUIN – Carson Goehring earned a potential shiner under his left eye.
He and his Jacobs basketball teammates earned something that felt better: a Fox Valley Conference win Wednesday night, barely.
Not all victories are shiny.
“I walked in [the locker room] and [Ben Jurzak] and I made eye contact,” Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts of his senior guard after the Golden Eagles held off Hampshire 42-38. “He said, ‘Take it anyway we can.’ I was like, ‘Yep, you’re right.' You have to find a way to win.”
Jacobs (9-4, 3-2 FVC) did just that, as Emaan Thomas hit two free throws with 4.6 seconds left after Hampshire (5-12, 1-5) turned the ball over on the baseline while looking to tie the score or go up one with a 3-pointer.
“That’s not the reason why we lost, though,” said Whip-Purs coach Mike Featherly, who called a timeout with 24.2 seconds left with his team trailing 40-38. “The big thing was the little things. We had careless turnovers, we were throwing the ball at guys' ankles, not screening out. Those little things keep adding up to us not winning games. I feel for the guys because we got some real competitors.”
Goehring, who like his twin Connor comes off the bench, took an inadvertent elbow to his eye with 3:06 left in the fourth and was called for the foul, as well. He left the court but returned in time to split two free throws with 29.7 seconds on the clock, putting Jacobs up 40-38.
“I told him in the locker room, ‘That was a huge split,’ ” Roberts said.
Jacobs needed production from players such as Goehring because Hampshire focused plenty of attention on stopping Jurzak. Jacobs' season-long scoring leader attempted only four shots (one 3-pointer), making two, although he did get to the free-throw line frequently. He went 6 of 7 from the stripe and finished with 10 points.
“Not a ton of good looks,” Jurzak said. “I tried to get to the rim more, some layups, but I try not to force anything too much. I like to shoot when I can, but if it’s not there, I’m not going to force it.
“It was just nice to be able to hang in there and get the win, really.”
Hampshire’s Ryan Prowicz, who’s averaging about 14 points per game, scored only three points on 1-of-13 shooting from the floor (1 of 2 from the foul line). But Prowicz also guarded Jurzak and his coach liked the job the senior guard did.
“The thing he has to learn is, ‘OK, I’m not scoring, but I can do other things to win a game,' ” Featherly said.
Jaden Nelsen led Hampshire with a game-high 14 points, shooting 6 of 10 from the from the floor and 2 of 3 from the free-throw line.
Samson Averehi had team highs of 12 points and six rebounds, all in the first half, for Jacobs, which led 25-19 at the break. Thomas finished with nine points, going 5 of 6 from the line, including 3 of 4 in the fourth. Nolan Roper had five points and four steals.
“The game was one of those conference grinders, two familiar teams coming out of Christmas break,” Roberts said. “They played on Saturday [52-44 loss to Geneva], and I was concerned about that because we’re coming off a long layoff [12 days]. It’s not make excuses.”
Jacobs led 32-27 after three quarters but never extended the lead. Nelsen pulled the Whip-Purs even at 37-37 with 3:06 to go in the fourth. Roper’s 14-footer put the Eagles up for good.
“Everything’s tough,” Roberts said. “Winning’s hard, man, unless you’re super talented and have those special teams. [Sometimes] you got to grind and get some stops. It certainly wasn’t pretty [tonight].”