Men’s basketball: Ball pressure, shooting struggles sink Sauk against third-ranked Indian Hills

DIXON – The Sauk Valley Skyhawks fell behind Indian Hills in the first minute of Monday night’s game at Sauk Valley Community College. Although they picked up their intensity in the second half, they trailed for the duration of the game.

With a steady dose of ball pressure, good ball movement, and high energy from start to finish, the Warriors, ranked No. 3 nationally in the latest NJCAA Division I poll, rolled to an 81-61 win.

[ Photos from Sauk Valley vs. Indian Hills men's basketball ]

Indian Hills started the game on a 9-2 run in the first 1:37, reaching the seven-point margin after two Truth Harris free throws.

An Atem Agot putback pulled the Skyhawks within 13-9 with 13:35 to play in the first half, but the Warriors responded with a 28-17 run to take a commanding 15-point halftime lead.

“Their ball pressure is probably the best we’ve faced all year. They get into our guys, they make it a full-court game,” Skyhawks coach AJ Sharp said. “They sped us up a little bit, and I think that resulted in us shooting it poorly.”

Enoch Kalambay nailed a top-of-the-key 3 for a 26-15 Warriors lead just under the eight-minute mark, then hit a left-wing 3 with about 5:20 left to push it to 32-16. Devares Whitaker completed a three-point play to get Sauk within 34-21 with 3:56 remaining, but the Warriors scored seven of the next 12 points to take a 41-26 lead at the half.

“We missed a lot of of free throws, which was one [problem]. We turned the ball over six times,” Skyhawks sophomore forward Riek Riek said. “When you do that, you can’t make up for that in the first half. I think we went 9 for 19 from the free-throw line. That was a problem. We let the pressure get to us in the press, and that kind of just sped us up.”

Andre Brandon nailed a right-wing 3 at the start of the third quarter to get Sauk within 41-29, but the Warriors had answers all night. Ryan Myers buried a top-of-the-key 3 for a 46-29 Indian Hills lead with 18:16 to go, and the Skyhawks got within 11 points two times in the last 12:15, but never broke the single-digit barrier in the second half.

“Don’t calm down, don’t chill, don’t take our foot off the gas. We gotta stay with it,” Indian Hills sophomore guard Don McHenry said about his team’s mentality in the second half. “Sometimes we get a lead, we take our foot off the gas and think the game’s over. We just gotta keep pushing and keep trying to build on that lead. And I think that helped us big-time in the second half.”

Devon House went 2 for 2 at the free-throw line to draw within 52-41 with 12:15 remaining, then Agot hit the first of two free throws to pull within 64-53 with 5:57 to go. But in the last six minutes, Indian Hills surged with a 17-7 run.

“Our biggest thing is we didn’t match their intensity right away. We were soft with the ball, that created turnovers,” Sharp said. “When we went to the rim, we didn’t go with power, so we didn’t get as many foul calls. So it’s kind of one of those things where we didn’t match their level of intensity. They’re ranked third in the nation for a reason. They play hard every day, they hit shots. We didn’t hit very many shots, either.

“A couple things didn’t go our way, and they’re good enough to make you pay for it.”

Riek led the Skyhawks with 18 points, seven rebounds and one steal, while Agot totaled 13 points and nine rebounds. Brandon tallied seven points, 10 rebounds, one assist and one steal, Jake Gaither scored eight points, House racked up seven points and two rebounds, and Whitaker added seven points.

Sauk turned the ball over nearly 20 times in the 20-point loss.

McHenry believes the Warriors’ ball pressure had a lot to do with that.

“Just trying to make them make fast decisions, staying up in the press pretty much the whole game,” he said. “Trying to make them think, and that caused a bunch of turnovers, I think.”

McHenry paced the Warriors with 21 points, three assists, two rebounds and three steals, Myers chipped in 19 points and three rebounds, and Kalambay added 15 points, six rebounds and two steals.