Analysis: Hinsdale South, Morton Rivalry Adds Another Thrilling Chapter

There’s no love lost between the Hinsdale South and Morton boys basketball teams. They are West Suburban Conference Gold rivals, and they’re also familiar with each other through AAU summer play.

Friday night’s meeting was appropriately hard fought, with four ties and nine lead changes, and it went down to the wire, with Morton pulling out .

 In the first half, Morton (15-8 overall, 7-4 in WSC) shot 8-of-16 from the three-point arc. On the defensive side, Morton gave Hinsdale South (15-10, 6-5 in WSC) problems with its 2-2-1 zone press, which forced early turnovers by South—including three straight that put the Hornets in a 15-13 hole at first quarter’s end.

 "We know each other so well," Morton coach Tony Martinucchi said. "For example, we know their inbound plays and (Hornets coach Vince Doran) knows our five plays we run on offense. A couple of loose balls could have meant the game for us."

The trap bothered Hinsdale South until midway through the second quarter, when Doran called a timeout. Doran's strategy helped the Hornets go on a 12-2 scoring run in the second quarter and take the lead. At halftime, the Hornets led 28-26.

 Hinsdale South has run a very efficient offense this season, patiently passing the ball to find the player who has an open look. After overcoming the 2-2-1 zone press and the 2-3 zone defense that Morton applied, the Hornets found success and forced the Mustangs to foul.

"We had excellent spacing against the zone tonight," Doran said. "There are few secrets in our league. We know what they will do, and they know likewise. It's real difficult to win when (Morton's Jeff Jarosz) is shooting that way."

Jarosz was astounding from the field. After posting 15 points in the first half, he matched that amount in the third quarter alone, helping Morton outscore Hinsdale South 19-11 in the third and take a 45-39 lead.

In the fourth quarter, the Hornets responded once again with a late 11-2 scoring run to regain the lead.

“We had to keep contesting the wings," Hornets senior Joe Petrak said. "We didn't think (Jarosz) could keep hitting threes, but we also didn't shoot as well as we should've."

After a back-and-forth struggle late in the fourth quarter, Hinsdale South junior Brock Benson (16 points, 12 rebounds on the night) sank two free throws to give South a 53-52 lead with 39.5 seconds remaining.

Jarosz was called upon on Morton’s next possession.
He sized up the defense and made his move, connecting on the basket that put the Mustangs on top with 18.2 seconds left.

After a few miscues and timeouts, Hinsdale South was left with 6.4 seconds on the clock.

"The ball was inbounded, and I thought Joe (Petrak) did a great job," Doran said. "It was a scramble play. The ball was tipped, but I think (Petrak) got us a great look."

But the shot was off line as the buzzer sounded.

"There's a lot of good stuff to take from the loss," Benson said. "We can be in it with the best in the state. We just know we have to create more looks to take it home in the end."