Highland finds the basket in second half of comeback win

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 1/11/22

The Huskies went to halftime on Monday trailing 13-6, having made just a single field goal through two quarters with Lone Tree. 

In the locker room, Highland coach Bill Zywiec made it clear …

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Highland finds the basket in second half of comeback win

Posted

The Huskies went to halftime on Monday trailing 13-6, having made just a single field goal through two quarters with Lone Tree. 

In the locker room, Highland coach Bill Zywiec made it clear to his team that six points in a varsity basketball game was unacceptable, especially against a rival. 

“He kind of railed on us for a little bit,” Highland senior Trevor McFarland said. “And then he said, ‘we’ve just got to go play our game,’ and that’s what we came out and did.”

The Huskies outscored Lone Tree 41-24 in the second half to earn the 47-37 win, Highland’s first of the season. 

The Huskies trailed 25-21 late in the third quarter, when Connor Grinstead scored to cut the lead to two. Seconds later, McFarland leapt up to snatch a high pass out of the air and fired the ball to Devin Lovetinsky, who put the ball through the hoop and drew a foul. 

His free throw gave Highland its first lead of the game.

Lovetinsky’s 3-point play was part of a 21-6 run that put Highland ahead 44-32 with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. 

“We felt like all season long we were just so close and just couldn’t get over that hump,” Zywiec said. “In that fourth quarter we talked before we went out there. We have a chance here fellas, we have nothing to lose, we were 0-9 going into the game, we have to step up and play for eight minutes and see what happens.”

Tyler Bell made Lone Tree’s only field goal during the Huskie run, but Kaige Vonnahme answered it with a 3-pointer on the other end. Chase Schultz scored eight points in the fourth quarter and 15 in the second half, finishing with 18 for the game.

“Chase Schultz shoots the three very well in the third and fourth quarters, so I knew that giving him the ball late — he’s very clutch in that situation,” McFarland said. “And he hit a couple threes that put us up.”

Tyler Thompson had a team-high four steals and three assists.

Cade Patterson scored the first seven points of the game for Lone Tree as the Lions took a 13-3 first quarter lead. 

Three Huskie free throws were the only points for either team in the second quarter. 

Lone Tree made six shots in the first quarter and then just six more the rest of the game. 

“I thought we did a great job with our press and our 2-3 kind of gave them some issues, and we were able to get some easy lookouts,” Zywiec said. “When shots start to fall, then it makes your offense look a little bit smoother.”

Schultz had 10 rebounds for the Huskies. Grinstead scored eight of his nine points in the second half and grabbed 12 rebounds.  Lovetinsky scored five of his six in the second half as well. Vonnahme hit a pair of 3-pointers to finish with six. 

Drew Gauley went 5-of-6 from the foul line and finished with 10 points. 

Patterson’s third-quarter 3-pointer ended a 9-0 Highland run and put the Lions up 16-12. He scored 14 points before fouling out. 

Lone Tree (3-8) will travel to Pekin on Monday for a varsity-only contest with the Panthers, a game that was originally scheduled to be played Friday, January 7. Highland (1-9) travels to conference leader Winfield-Mount Union on Friday. 

 

E.V. 55, Highland 37

After trailing by 13 points at halftime, a strong third quarter had Highland down just 36-29 heading into the final quarter of a non-conference game with English Valleys on Thursday. But the Huskies could not contain the Bear offense in the fourth quarter of the 55-37 loss. 

Chase Schultz led the Huskies with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Highland shot just 3-of-7 from the free throw line in the loss. Connor Grinstead was 3-for-5 from the stripe and finished with 11. Trevor McFarland had a team-high three steals and shot 2-of-5 from the 3-point line for eight points. 

 

Pekin 59, Highland 49

Chase Schultz scored a season-high 18 points in Highland’s 59-49 loss to Pekin on Tuesday.

The Huskies shot 5-of-10 from the 3-point line, led by Connor Grinstead, who was 2-of-2 on the way to 15 points. 

Grinstead and Tyler Thompson each had two steals, but the Huskies lost the turnover battle 19-9. Devin Lovetinsky had a team-high seven rebounds.