Even rest can’t disturb Neuqua Valley’s rhythm.
Back on the floor after a nine-day layoff, Neuqua Valley didn’t show much rust in posting a 67-51 Upstate Eight victory over Metea Valley Thursday night in Naperville.
Behind getting three guys in double figures, Connor Raridon, Demond George and Zac Lendino, the Wildcats broke open a six-point game at halftime by ending the third quarter on a 20-8 run—a stretch ended by a George triple with under 10 seconds left in the third.
By the time the Wildcats’ offensive surge was over, they had extended their lead to as far out as 28 points early in the fourth as Raridon, George and Lendino combined for 42 of their 67 points while in the midst of running its winning streak to nine games.
“Last time we played (Metea Valley), it was very close at half. We struggled (the) first half. Same thing (Thursday) night,” Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said. “Close game, struggle first half. We just started the third quarter just lights out, on fire. Played really good defense the third quarter and offense got a lot better and that’s the difference.”
The North Central College-bound Raridon led the way for Neuqua Valley (15-1, 7-1) by posting a double-double with game highs in both points and rebounds with 19 and 13, respectively, while George had 11 of his 13 points in the second half and Lendino chipped in with 10.
Joe Sieger and Jacob Eminger added in eight points apiece for the Wildcats.
Lendino and the rest of his teammates in the post did a tremendous job inside on Metea Valley center Mark Konkle.
Konkle, who came in averaging a team-high 16.1 points, scored only five points as Metea Valley (6-10, 3-5) lost its sixth straight game.
“Oh, yeah. Good job. You know, (Neuqua Valley is a) very good defensive team. Coach Sutton had them prepared to help out with Mark, help out on the weak side,” Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza said. “So Mark had to battle for everything he got, but (Neuqua Valley) did a great job on him.”
Vozza referenced his team’s one-for-nine effort at the free-throw line in the third quarter as one reason the game got away from his team as for the second time in as many games against Neuqua Valley this year, the Mustangs went into halftime down single digits only to eventually lose by double digits.
“Two games in a row where I thought our defense was very solid the first half against two very good teams—Bartlett and Neuqua,” he said. “It was kind of a grind-it-out first half, shots weren’t going for them. Not going for us, as well. But you still got to be pleased with our defense giving us a shot in the second half.
“I thought we even started the half well. We had two shots at the basket. A couple leaks out, they hit a three and a two and all of a sudden six points becomes 11 and then we were still getting shots and getting fouled. … (Our poor free throw shooting) just contributed. I thought our guys got down on themselves a little bit and that spurted on another run for them, as well.”
Bryson Oliver led the Mustangs with nine points.
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