Red Raiders Survive Upset Against DeKalb

The host team and #1 seed in the Class 4A Huntley Regional narrowly defeated the #5 seeded DeKalb Barbs on Tuesday night.  A short jumper by Amanze Egekeze wtih under 1 minute to play and two free throws by Troy Miller with 16.9 seconds left gave the Raiders a 40-37 victory.

Both teams were a little tight in the first quarter and struggled to make shots. The Raiders played over 5 minutes of the first quarter without Egekeze who picked up two early fouls.  DeKalb led 7-4 late in the first period but Huntley worked patiently for a good shot and Ryan Craig hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 7-7.

Huntley picked up their offense a little in the second quarter and took an 18-15 halftime lead.

The Barbs nailed a 3-pointer to open the third and tie things up.  Huntley then opened up the biggest lead of the game by either team at 26-20.  DeKalb closed the quarter strong and trailed 27-24.

DeKalb regained the lead at 31-29 in the fourth quarter but Egekeze tied it back up with 2 of his 9 second half points.  The next few possessions saw the lead swing back and forth until just under a minute to play when an Egekeze basket put Huntley up 38-37.

Troy Miller led the team with 10 points including an important 3-pointer to tie the game with 2:19 left in the game.  Bryce Only and Justin Frederick each scored 8 points and both did a tremendous job on the glass and defensively.

Huntley will face Larkin on Friday night as the Royals defeated Dundee-Crown, 53-48 in the other semi-final game.