Boys basketball: Minooka’s 1-2 punch powers win over Plainfield North

CHANNAHON – It’s no secret when playing the Minooka boys basketball team that Ricky Hill and Trevor Hudak are the go-to scorers.

The trouble is, not many teams have been able to successfully contain the Indians’ 1-2 scoring punch.

Such was the case Friday night, when Hill (28 points) and Hudak (23 points) combined for 51 of the Indians’ 70 points in a 70-59 Southwest Prairie Conference win over Plainfield North.

The Tigers (10-14, 5-7) keyed on Hill early, and the senior point guard did not score in the first quarter. However, the attention paid to Hill left Hudak open behind the 3-point line, and he was locked in. Hudak drained 4 of 5 3-pointers in the first quarter – three off of assists from Hill – to keep the Indians (16-8, 10-4) close to North, which got eight points from Mason Delaney in the first quarter and six from Damir Ashira, who finished with a team-high 24. The two teams were tied at 14 at the end of the first.

“They were keying on Ricky early, and that opened up a lot of space for me,” Hudak said. “If I am hitting from outside, then the other team has to come out on me, and that opens the lane up for Ricky to drive.

“It’s hard to stop both of us.”

Hudak drained his first 3-point attempt of the second quarter to give Minooka a 17-16 lead after Delaney (17 points) had scored on a drive for North. The Tigers were able to get a basket by Sean Schlanser and a three-point play by Ashira to move ahead, 21-17, before Hill began to heat up.

Hill scored on a free throw before a basket by teammate Darren Anderson (6 points, team-high 9 rebounds) cut it to 21-20. Hill then drove the lane and scored to put Minooka ahead, 22-21. Delaney answered with a 3-pointer for a 24-22 North lead, but Hill put back his own miss to tie it at 24 at the mask break. Hill again went 1 of 2 from the line to give Minooka the lead for good at 25-24, then hit a 3-pointer for a 28-24 lead. Thomas Fitzgerald converted a three-point play for North to make it 28-27, but Minooka got buckets from Adrien Manning (10 points) and Hill to end the half with a 32-27 lead.

“Ricky and Trevor are a nice tandem,” Minooka coach Kevin Cain said. “Trevor doesn’t have to touch the ball very often to score, and Ricky did a great job of penetrating and kicking out to him. We were tied without Ricky scoring, and when he got going, he was hard to stop.”

Minooka continued to pull away in the third quarter as Hudak hit two more 3-pointers and Hill scored seven points to help the Indians to a 52-40 lead entering the fourth. The Minooka lead reached 57-42 early in the fourth after Manning got a steal and layup, was fouled and completed the three-point play. But, North refused to go away and closed the gap to 66-59 on a 3-pointer by Ashira with 25.5 seconds left before Hill and Manning each drained a pair of free throws in the final seconds.

“Hill and Hudak are both good players,” Plainfield North coach Bob Krahulik said. “Not many people have stopped them all year. They are both averaging around 20 points in their last nine games or so. Hudak was on fire early, and that opened the lane up for Hill.

“We played hard, like we do every game. We just didn’t get some key stops when we needed them. I thought Damir played as well as he has all year. He was a lot more confident shooting and was looking to attack. That’s something we can build on.”

While most of the attention was on Hudak and Hill, Cain pointed out that it was a team victory.

“Adrien Manning is always challenged on defense with the other team’s best player, and he answered it,” Cain said. “Delaney had 13 points at halftime and finished with 17. Darren Anderson did a great job rebounding, and Cade Ooms took another charge, which gives him 25 on the year. Nick Andreano comes in and is an energy guy for us, and Caleb Parker came in and did a nice job.

“We put in a tremendous amount of effort on defense, and got a lot of hands on passes. We wanted to make sure that, if they beat us, it would be from outside. We got a lot of deflections on their passes to the interior and got them out of rhythm in their offense.”