Indians rip Hilltoppers’ young squad
By tim tierney For Sun-Times Media December 10, 2011 10:16PM
Joliet Catholic’s Shakar Washington (1) flys to the basket against Minooka’s Kevin Burkett (12) during the first half in Minooka Saturday December, 10, 2011.| Ray Luna ~ For Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 12, 2012 8:32AM
Minooka finally had its home opener seven games into the season Saturday night, and it was definitely worth the wait for the Indians.
Minooka jumped out to a 9-0 lead, increased it to 29-11 at halftime and finished with a productive 60-28 nonconference victory over Joliet Catholic.
“I forgot what this place looked like,’’ Minooka coach Scott Tanaka said.
It looked good all night for the Indians against an inexperienced Joliet Catholic team. Minooka took control partly by dominating the boards with a 19-8 advantage in the first half.
“We’ve stressed that,’’ Tanaka said of the team rebounding. “Boards, boards, boards, boards. We have a team that has bought into working really hard. When they’re willing to work hard they can crash, because they’ll sprint back on defense.’’
Guard Jake Hogen led Minooka (6-1) with 13 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers that put the game out of reach early in the third quarter, and forward Adam Reynolds contributed 12 points. Eleven players scored for Minooka.
“We have the luxury here of having some big guys who can score inside and some shooters who can really shoot the heck out of the ball,’’ Tanaka said. “And we’ve got Darrin Myers doing a great job at point guard.’’
The bulky, 6-foot-4 Reynolds worked inside for a couple of layups early in the game and moved out to bury a 3-pointer in the second quarter.
Ryan Peter’s six points led Joliet Catholic (3-5), which lost to Nazareth on Friday. The Hilltoppers have only one senior on the varsity roster.
“We’re building from ground zero,’’ Joliet Catholic coach Joe Gura said. “We’re trying to build slow but sure, put in a system. Minooka has a very good team — they’ve got it inside, they’ve got it outside. We knew it would be tough.”
