By Scott Taylor
@Taylor_Sports
It was a tough pair of games in a double-header Friday night for Plainfield North against Minooka
The boys fell to Minooka 48-33, while the girls lost 50-47 in overtime.
In the boys’ game, the two teams were tied at 16-16 at the half after a strong defensive half.
However, the Indians found open spaces in the third quarter and broke open the game with an 13-0 run to end the third quarter and open the fourth quarter to take a 41-29 lead.
“We started playing defense differently, which is why I called a couple timeouts,” North coach Bob Krahulik said. “We started cheating and went to double team a few times. I don’t know what they were doing defensively. We totally changed from what we were doing in the first half. They ran the same offense they did in the first half, we just started defending differently.
The Tigers scored the next four points, but that would be as close as they would get in the loss.
“They just outplayed us and wore us out,” Krahulik said. “They had minute-and-a-half possessions and they were a lot tougher. They screened and we didn’t.
“They play a different style than what we like to play and that we normally see. But it is good for us because in the tournament we may have to play a team like this.”
Kevin Krieger led North with 11 points.
It was the last game of the year for Zach Jarosz, who is having wrist surgery now in hopes of being ready for the baseball season.
Kevin Krieger scored 11 points in North’s loss to Minooka Friday.
“He is a tough kid and does everything we ask and knows his role,” Krahulik said. “We are going to miss all that about him. He dives for loose balls and throws around his body.”
In the girls’ game, the Tigers held a 20-7 lead, but Minooka battled back for a 25-25 tie after the third quarter.
The two teams heated up in the fourth quarter as they went back-and-forth throughout the period.
With 1:15 left in the game, a Jordan Heberg three-pointer gave the Tigers a 43-41 lead.
Minooka tied the game and the Tigers had one last chance but a shot at the buzzer was off.
In the overtime it appeared the Tigers took the lead with 1:02 left, but a basket was waved off for a charge call.
Trailing by three points, North had one last chance in the closing seconds, but Minooka was ready for Heberg to take the tying three, having two girls help block the shot at the buzzer.
“We had a play set up to go to Jordan but we also had another option,” North coach Reggie Lemon said. “We knew they would be keying on Jordan and if she was open we would go to her.”
“She is such a good player and it has been a pleasure to coach against her for four years,” Minooka coach Ray Liberatore said of Heberg. “They are smart, they are going to go to her. At least tonight our girls won that battle on the last shot.”
Amaya Johns led the Tigers (15-6, 6-3) with 19 points.
“The last couple games we’ve been playing flat and beating ourselves,” Lemon said. “Minooka played well and they always play us tough anyway. I think we were 7-of-18 from the free throw line or something like that. So, we beat ourselves against a good team.”
The Tigers will look to get back on track as IHSA seeding is next week.
“Hopefully this will be the first year we don’t have a play-in game,” Lemon said. “We really need to win out to get a decent seed.”
•Plainfield South topped Oswego 59-46 as Jacob Buchner scored 25 points and Nick Welter added 12.