Hononegah's boys basketball team full of surprises

ROCKTON — Hononegah basketball fans probably found that video message board at Rockford East’s gymnasium rather annoying Friday night.

It kept showing comparisons between their Indians and their opponent, Rockford Guilford, such as records against common opponents, scoring averages and the outcome of the first two meetings, both 20-point losses for Hononegah.

The most important stat, however, was on the scoreboard and ultimately that proved to be one of the biggest upsets of the Stateline basketball season as Hononegah prevailed 64-57.

The Indians were 12-16 overall going into that East Regional title game after finishing sixth in the NIC-10. They’d lost their last two regular-season conference games, but had upset Huntley in the regional opener.

The Vikings were unbeaten in winning the NIC-10 and were 26-4 and if they needed a wake up call, surviving their regional opener against East on a late shot 57-55 certainly qualified.

But they can be forgiven for taking Hononegah too lightly. As senior Cole Warren said afterwards, “I don’t think anyone saw this coming.”

Well, truth be told, head coach Tom Schmidt had an inkling. But did his team have enough to make up the 20-plus points they lost twice by before?

“We have improved a lot,” Schmidt said. “The biggest difference is that we’re playing with a lot of confidence now. We’re seeing some shots going in. We’re seeing some guys who earlier in the year were taking a tough shot that was OK now passing that up to get somebody else a great shot and knocking it down. You could feel the players’ confidence growing in each other.”

With Darian Tholin draining three 3-pointers in the first quarter, Hononegah jetted out to a 19-11 lead and showed it wasn’t going to roll over.

But hitting shots and sharing the basketball was just part of it. Against a team that can cause fits with its trapping defense, Hononegah dished out some of its own stingy “D.”

“Defensively, we’re playing as hard as we can on each possession as if the game depended on that possession,” Schmidt said. “That’s what we need to do. We’re not always going to be the tallest or most athletic team out there. We have to grind it out and do the little things, get the 50-50 balls and generally be scrappy.”

Truth be told, the Indians bordered on flashy at times. Leading the odds-on favorites deep into the game will give a team some swagger.

But Guilford wasn’t going down without a fight. The Vikings ramped up their defense even more and started to squeeze the Indians in the fourth quarter. They trimmed an 11-point deficit with 3-and-a-half minutes left down to a mere basket at 59-57 with 1:15 remaining.

During that stretch, the Indians had shown a few cracks, missing some bunnies and turning the ball over on several possessions.

But they regrouped during a timeout and held Guilford scoreless the rest of the way while hitting five free throws themselves.

“We’ve talked forever about moving on to the next play,” Schmidt said. “You miss a layup or turn it over, you can’t feel sorry for yourself and have that in your head. You have to keep playing with confidence. Hopefully we can do that in the sectional.”

The same mind-set they had against the Vikings would help.

“If everyone is going to count us out, let’s shock them,” Warren said. “It’s kind of cool. You can see everyone’s face drop on the other when you pull off the upset.”

Hononegah will face third-seeded McHenry (25-8) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Guilford Sectional semifinals at Rock Valley College. The Warriors defeated Mundelein 65-46 to win their first regional title since 2012.

McHenry has won seven of its past eight games, but the loss was to none other than Huntley 53-47.

In other words, don’t sleep on Hononegah.