Prairie Ridge’s Ben Gablenz has Huntley’s number, again

HUNTLEY – Prairie Ridge senior guard Ben Gablenz has zero issues with Huntley, even though he had never beaten the Red Raiders in his first three years of high school basketball.

“I like Huntley. Huntley’s a good school,” he said matter of factly. “I don’t have a problem with Huntley.”

Surely, Gablenz loves Huntley. Well, now, anyway.

One month after his 3-pointer at the buzzer in overtime beat Huntley in Crystal Lake, Gablenz poured in a career-high 34 points to lead the Wolves to a 57-44 win over the Raiders in a Fox Valley Conference game Tuesday.

“JV and all my varsity games,” Gablenz said, “Huntley was always the one team I never beat.”

Now, the three-year varsity starter has two wins over Huntley that he likely never will forget.

“It’s nice, for sure,” said Gablenz, smiling.

PR (11-19, 7-10) is 7-5 since a buzzer-beating loss at Dundee-Crown on Jan. 15. Two nights later, the Wolves beat Huntley on Gablenz’s OT 3 from well beyond the arc, and they’ve been an improved team ever since then.

“He’s a heck of a basketball player,” Wolves coach Brian Frericks said of Gablenz. “When he’s playing with confidence, and when he’s doing his thing, he’s one of the best players in the area. Once he continues to believe that, there’s not much teams can do to stop him. Even when he’s being face-guarded, he does a great job of moving off the basketball, being patient, letting the game come to him and shooting with confidence.”

Guard Christian Wilson scored 22 points to lead Huntley (12-17, 7-10) and almost kept pace with Gablenz. Wilson closed the first quarter with three straight 3-pointers and sank another 3 before halftime, as the Raiders took a 24-23 lead into the break. Wilson finished with six 3s.

Gablenz scored 14 points in the second quarter after hitting the first of his five 3s in the first.

“He had a special night,” Huntley coach Collin Kalamatas said of Gablenz. “That second quarter was just a blur. We looked up and, all of a sudden, he had 17. We went and face-guarded him at the end of the half and did a pretty decent job closing the half out. But he came out in the second half and he just didn’t cool off at all.”

PR played without injured starters Sam Kirk (rolled ankle) and Luke Muse (cut by his eye). Gablenz took it upon himself to score more in their absence. He was efficient, shooting 13 of 23 from the floor, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. The 6-3 veteran scored in a variety of ways, including pull-up jumpers and even a reverse layup that drew a foul.

“Usually I don’t shoot the ball that much, but my team’s down two guys and we needed a little push to get over the hump,” Gablenz said. “So I was like, ‘I’ll take matters into my own hands.' ”

Prairie Ridge’s 5-foot-8 Luke Vanderwiel scored all four of his points in the second half but more importantly hustled for eight rebounds, including six of the offensive glass. Vanderwiel’s strip of Logan Darragh (nine points, seven rebounds) after Huntley’s 6-7 senior grabbed a defensive rebound and held the ball high caught Kalamatas' attention.

“He was a difference-maker for them tonight,” Kalamatas said of Vanderwiel. “Obviously, Ben had an incredible game scoring-wise, but they had so many other players who impacted the game much more with some of those hustle plays.”

Eli Loeding added 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals for PR. Gablenz had 30 points after three quarters as PR outscored Huntley 18-6 to take a 41-30 lead into the fourth.

“My teammates set some great screens,” said Gablenz, who also had five rebounds. “I was moving all around the floor tonight. I didn’t stop moving, really.”

Both teams wrap up the regular season Friday night. Prairie Ridge will host Dundee-Crown, and Huntley will be home against McHenry.