Marko Stojich steps up as McHenry wins share of first FVC title

HUNTLEY – A basketball team seeking its first conference championship in nearly 50 years needed almost forever to take the lead in a must-win game Friday night.

It took Marko Stojich almost no time – about 4½ minutes, actually – to play hero for McHenry on Huntley’s senior night.

“We needed someone to step up,” he said, “and I was able to do it.”

The 6-foot-2 junior guard came off the bench to score all nine of his points in the fourth quarter, giving a much-needed offensive boost and spark that the Warriors needed to pull out a come-from-behind, 47-44 win in the regular-season finale for both teams. The win gave McHenry (25-6, 16-2) a share of the Fox Valley Conference championship with Crystal Lake South, which needed a rally of its own to beat Hampshire 77-53.

It’s the first FVC title for McHenry, which was a member of the North Suburban Conference when it last won a conference championship in 1976. The FVC formed two years later.

“It feels really good,” McHenry coach Corky Card said as his players celebrated on Huntley’s court, before driving to their own gym to cut down nets. “I can’t say the kids played poorly or bad. They just found a way [to execute] when we needed to make shots.”

Stojich’s shot going McHenry going. He scored on a drive with 4:48 left in the fourth quarter to give the Warriors their first lead, at 34-32. Baskets by Sheldon Aninagyei-Bonsu and Christian Wilson kept Huntley (12-18, 7-11) in the game, but Stojich buried a 3-pointer off a pass from Dylan Hurckes with 1:04 left, breaking a 39-all tie, and McHenry had the lead for good.

“He just played with no fear,” Card said of Stojich, who’s started about half of McHenry’s games this season. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

“Everyone on our team can make plays like that, and we trust Marko to make those plays all the time,” said McHenry forward Adam Anwar, who scored a game-high 14 points in his third game since missing 12 straight with a broken wrist. “He makes them in practice. We love him. I wasn’t shocked.”

McHenry seemed to have iced it when Hurckes (11 points, four steals) sank two free throws with 12.6 seconds left to put the visitors up 47-41. But Will Dillon hit a lean-in 3-pointer from the top of the key with six seconds to go. Then after Anwar missed two free throws with 4.9 seconds left, Dillon shot a running 3 from the left wing that bounced wide off the backboard at the buzzer.

“We may have lost tonight, but McHenry’s one of the best teams in the area,” Dillon said. “Congratulations to them on winning the conference championship. Very good for them. But we showed tonight that we can compete with anyone in the regional, and we’re coming for it all.”

McHenry won for only the fifth time in its last nine games and trailed Huntley by nine with less than three minutes left in the third quarter.

“We haven’t been bringing energy,” Stojich said. “We’ve been kind of in a slump, but we’re thankful that our coaches have had our back. We were able to build it back up and get this win tonight.”

Anwar gave credit to the Red Raiders, whose all-senior starting lineup built a 10-2 lead before team captains Wilson, Aninagyei-Bonsu and Zach Rysavy entered the game midway through the first quarter.

“We like the competitive games, and Huntley made a lot of shots,” Anwar said. “We didn’t play the best defense, we didn’t communicate that hard, but we bounced back in the second half. We deal with adversity all the time. We know how to stay in close games, and that’s why we pull out all these ones.”

All eight Huntley seniors scored, with Dillon leading the way with 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. The Raiders got eight points from Wilson, six from Aninagyei-Bonsu, five from Rysavy, four from Logan Darragh, three from Jayden Bartunek and Connor DeVries, and two from Aidan Larson. The group hit a combined seven 3-pointers.

“This one hurt tonight, but it was still special because I got to celebrate with my friends,” Dillon said. “It’s emotional, but we’re coming in next week (regionals) with a chip on our shoulder. We work together.”

Huntley coach Collin Kalamatas couldn’t have been prouder of his team.

“We talked about it going into the game that we weren’t playing for anything in the regular season at this point, but we knew they were playing for a conference title,” Kalamatas said. “For us, it was a great experience to be able to play in a championship-like atmosphere, and our kids rose to the challenge.”