Bucs priming for victories in defeat

By Bob Kopp

BDR Sports Correspondent

DEKALB – Undefeated and rested Winnebago won 58-57.

O.K., technically, Winnebago is 10-1 after forfeiting to West Chicago in the quarterfinals because of Monday’s weather that prevented them from challenging DeKalb for the crown of the 88th Annual Chuck Dayton Holiday Classic.

But ask anyone who knows anything about basketball in this neck of the woods and they will tell you that Winnebago’s depth, height, length, speed, athleticism, and winning tradition punctuated by six seniors, six juniors, and three sophomores in a rotation going 15 deep portend a championship run in the post-season.

Winnebago needed all of their Indians as the Bucs showed once again that no one will out-coach, out-hustle, or out-tough them.

The game was close at the end of every quarter with Winnebago’s edge never exceeding five points – 15-13, 33-28, and 41-39 before a nail-biting finale that reinforced the Indians’ stellar reputation and sparked expectations of Belvidere basketball priming for the second half of its conference schedule and post-season.

The game was tied 43-43 for the first time at 6:07 as junior Joey Hernandez connected on two of his three points from the charity stripe.

The first 46-43 Belvidere lead came at 5:15 as junior Austin Revolinski, playing his notoriously rugged all-court game for every second of every minute, drained a long three as part of his 14 points for the evening.

Winnebago took back the lead 48-47 at 3:41 on a bucket by senior Spencer Lindgren.

Senior captain Eric Munoz, who led all scorers with 19 points, dropped a bomb from downtown at 3:20 to put the Bucs back on top 50-48.

Senior Deante Barnes hit three of his 13 points at 1:03 to extend the Bucs lead 57-53 where it remained until the seatbelt-exploding final 24.5 seconds.

Indian junior Isaiah Whitehead hit a three with 24.5 ticks on the clock to draw the favorites within a point 57-56 before 5’6″ senior sparkplug Daniel Rosenthal who started the contest’s scoring with an opening nothing-but-net three ended the evening for Winnebago with a floating drive to the hole to seal the deal 58-57.

Winnebago’s 6’7″ dynamic shot-blocker with big moves inside and deft touch outside senior Brandon Suggs led the Indians with 14 points.

Completing the scoring for the Bucs were juniors Xavier Dent (six) and Nate Horton (two) as juniors Austin Brockmann, Will Morris, and Jacob Rodriguez along with senior Matt Kopp also logged minutes.

While Winnebago played as expected, the Bucs seem primed for the rest of the season; not to mention a rumor going around the NIC-10 that ESPN is considering a high school version of its 30-30 on those renowned Detroit Pistons of yesteryear featuring Belvidere called the…