GENEVA — Bryce Salek said there was some difference in his size.
The Yorkville junior claims he is 6-foot-4. His doctor tells him he’s 6-2½. But there was no denying that Salek had to play particularly big on Monday.
The Foxes were without their best player, senior position LeBaron Lee, as the baseball pitcher pitched for a Texas Rangers scout. Yorkville’s other post, 6-10 Jason Jakstys, played a few minutes after returning from an ankle injury.
“Especially in this game, I knew I had to play more inside with these guys,” Salek said. “I like to play on the perimeter, or inside, I like both. As you get older, 6-4 isn’t so big anymore.
It was pretty big on Monday.
Salek scored a team-high 13 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Shorthanded Yorkville scouted Huntley a 10-point lead and never led until the fourth quarter, when the Foxes claimed a 45-39 victory at the 4th Annual MLK Hoop Day in Geneva.
Jory Boley also scored 13 points and a third Yorkville junior, Caleb Fisher, had seven points for Yorkville (18-3). Fisher’s free throw on the first possession of the fourth quarter gave the Foxes their first lead, and Boley’s layup, in a 7-1 run to start the fourth, gave Yorkville the lead. ahead for good, 33-31, with 7:19 left.
“We get to play the playoffs, some big games, we’re going to need some other guys to step in,” Yorkville coach John Holakovsky said. “Better an 11:45 a.m. game in Geneva with 50 people in the stands than Joliet West on Friday in a sold-out crowd to get that exposure. These kids deserve a ton of credit.
Salek also provided the spark on Saturday as Yorkville came back from 22 fewer points in the third quarter to beat Kaneland, a game in which Lee scored 32 points.
Holakovsky had Lee in the scorebook available on Monday, but he never made it to Geneva. Jakstys, who twisted his ankle last Tuesday against Romeoville, showed he was ready for the game on Monday with a reverse dunk in the lay-up line, and scored two points with two assists.
Salek, showing his versatile inside-out game, made a 3-pointer for his first field goal, scored on drives and caught a lob from Jakstys for a score to tie it 26-26 late in the third quarter and cap an 8 -0 Courses.
“He’s a great shoving player for us,” Holakovsky said. “He and LeBaron started our rally on Saturday. We play through our big ones so much that when we don’t have them both, everything goes a little more awkwardly. But pretty much every time Bryce goes there, we say we need those energy games and those hustle games. That’s what he does for us.
Salek, clearly, took the role.
“I kinda like that it lets me be the sleeper that people don’t know about,” he said. “I try to come off the bench, bring energy, be a slasher, I can shoot, I can drive. With these guys out, I knew I had to step up today.
Lucas Crosby scored 11 points and Ian Ravagnie 10 for Huntley (14-5), as Ravagnie’s 3-pointer started a 10-0 run to start the game.
The Red Raiders were still leading 22-18 at halftime, but it was an attacking struggle throughout. Huntley shot just 6 for 36 from 3-point range, 2 for 19 in the second half. Crosby’s backdoor layup had the Red Raiders within 37-36 with 3:33 to go, and Yorkville followed with four empty possessions. But Huntley couldn’t capitalize, finding himself empty on three consecutive possessions for the lead.
“There was just no flow to the game, no feel. It was a weird game,” Huntley coach Will Benson said. “We rely on the 3 and usually hit the rim once in a while. No. 24 [Noah Only] and #4 [Ravagnie]they’re two of our best shooters and they couldn’t throw it in the ocean.
Only and Ravagnie indeed combined to shoot just 4 for 24. To compound these issues, Only was called for a technical double with a Yorkville player early in the third quarter and was eventually fouled with four runs. with 4:20 to go.
“What disappointed me the most was that we lost our temper a bit, and not just with the technique,” Benson said. “We were responding to calls and that’s not what we do and what we’re supposed to do. It is what it is. The good news is that we can play tomorrow.
Yorkville, meanwhile, is expecting a big Friday in Joliet West.
The stoned Foxes have two other injured seniors at the moment, and are even battling injuries on the scout team, which has forced them to bring in sophomores to practice. Yorkville played eight juniors on Monday but still won its eighth straight game.
“We don’t even have 10 right now to practice sometimes. We kind of fight in the middle of the season,” Holakovsky said. “I thought it would be a chore and a dogfight today and it was.”
