Boys basketball notes: Huntley’s Ben Ahmer’s shooting work is paying dividends

Huntley’s Ben Ahmer cannot get enough of shooting a basketball.

The Red Raiders senior guard shoots at school, he shoots at Huntley’s practices, then often heads to Pure Sweat Basketball in Crystal Lake to hoist more shots with the shooting gun, a machine that rebounds and fires balls rapidly back to the shooter.

“I spend a lot of time there getting my reps,” Ahmer said.

Pure Sweat COO Rich Czeslawski was running a Crystal Lake South feeder program practice feeder league game recently and received a text from Ahmer. Czeslawski opened the facility remotely so he could get more practice.

Ahmer’s work shows on the court. He had an area-high 73 3-pointers heading into Tuesday’s game at Hampshire, only six off the Raiders’ single-season school record set by Troy Miller in 2011, with six remaining regular-season games.

Ahmer, who is hitting 40% on 3s, has a real shot at reaching 100 for the season since the Raiders (21-4) should be playing a few tournament games after the regular season.

“He’s in the gym constantly. He works at it all the time,” Huntley coach Will Benson said. “He is an elite shooter. A lot of really good high school shooters can catch and shoot, but they struggle to be more consistent off the dribble. There’s not a whole lot of difference with him catching and shooting and taking it off the bounce, too.”

Ahmer is the one player on this year’s team who was in the rotation for the 27-6 team of 2020 that lost a triple-overtime semifinal at the Class 4A McHenry Sectional to Cary-Grove.

“I grew up around basketball,” Ahmer said. “My dad (Don) was a feeder coach, so I’d always go to practice. He coached my two older brothers (Michael and Charlie), and I’d always be shooting.”

Ahmer has worked with basketball skills coach Zac Boster, along with his workouts at Pure Sweat, whose clientele looks like an all-star list of current and former area players.

Benson gives Ahmer a lot of leeway with 3s.

“He practices shots 4, 5, 6 feet behind the 3-point line, and he’s proving he can make them,” Benson said. “So he has the green light. He’s constantly taking shots. And he takes shots at game speed, so he’s getting that consistent repetition. It doesn’t do any good if you lazily take shots because you’re going to have to take them at a much faster pace in the game.”

The shooting gun helps with that. It also helps Ahmer with his range.

“The shooting gun is a machine that spits it back out to you,” he said. “Just stepping farther back and reps is the biggest thing. I’ve never really had to heave it up there. Shooting deeper never was really a huge problem. It’s getting more rhythm and legs into it.”

Ahmer plans on playing in college. He is looking at a lot of NCAA Division III schools in the CCIW. He has enjoyed the Raiders’ season as they challenge for the school wins record and shoot for another 4A regional title.

“It’s a credit to my teammates and coaches,” Ahmer said of his success. “We prepare really hard for each team, and we believe in each other. They always find me when I’m open. We play really well together. That’s a big reason we’ve had a successful season so far.

“It feels great for sure. We didn’t have a full season last year so we’re trying to get the most out of this year, it’s been fun.”

Locked in: Prairie Ridge guard Mason Loucks had 23 3s for the season, tying him for 26th in the area before last week. Loucks made a huge jump up in that statistical category by hitting 15 3s in the Wolves’ past three games.

Loucks scored 45 points last week, all of which came on 3s. He hit seven in a loss to McHenry, two in a win over Crystal Lake South and six in a loss to Geneva.

“It looks like he found his rhythm and got his confidence back,” Wolves coach Ryan Smith said.

Loucks hit two 3s early against Geneva on Saturday, then banked in a 3 at the halftime buzzer. He shot a few from several feet behind the arc.

“I had my confidence and I was just letting if fly, letting it loose,” Loucks said, after the loss to Geneva. “I had a trigger-happy finger. Letting it go.

“Lots of times in practice I shoot the long ones. I get more space out there, and I like it better than closer [to the line]. I’m better with the long ones to be honest.”

Closing in: Marengo senior guard Matthew Volkening leads the area with a 23.9-point scoring average and now has 1,601 career points heading into Tuesday’s game at Woodstock North.

Volkening (6-6) is 214 points away from Marengo’s career leader Zach Knobloch with 1,815 career points with seven regular-season games to go.

Playing with pain: Prairie Ridge guard Zach Lindquist played in Friday’s win against South, but sat out Saturday’s nonconference game with Geneva with an injury that has plagued him this season.

“He has a rib that is displaced,” Smith said. “It affects a muscle, and it hurts him to breathe. The chiropractor tries to move it, but you have to tolerate the pain. There’s not really a fix for it. It’s kind of weird.”

Smith understands Lindquist’s availability may be on a game-to-game basis. With 20 3s, he provided another outside threat for the Wolves.

Clarke to Dubuque: Cary-Grove guard Mike Clarke recently decided to continue his playing career at D-III Dubuque next season.

Clarke was one of the top reserve players for C-G’s 2020 team that finished 31-3 and won a Class 4A regional. The Trojans were denied a shot at their second sectional title in school history when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports the day before the McHenry Sectional championship game.

Clarke leads the Trojans with a 10.4-point average and has 19 3s while running the offense at point guard.