Red Devils, Hornets Boys Basketball Remain Positive About Seasons

Despite enduring some respective disappointments as their seasons drew to a close, both the Hinsdale Central Red Devils and the Hinsdale South Hornets boys basketball coaches struck an upbeat tone about their year, the Suburban Life reports.

Hinsdale Central (18-7) were upset by 12-seed Geneva last Thursday, 55-49, and forced to leave the playoffs earlier than expected, but can fall back on a 12-win streak to start the calendar year and their first West Suburban Silver title since 2000, the paper said.

"Our senior group was special," coach Nick Latorre said of the nine departing seniors. "I think the overall focus of our program is built on hard work, discipline and unselfishness, and I think those are the three things they have brought every day in my three years here. I think that's definitely what they got across to those younger guys."

Meanwhile, despite going just 7-19 and exiting after a quarterfinal loss to Oswego East on Feb. 25, Hinsdale South could have been 12-14 had five three-point-or-less losses gone their way instead, and the team have a strong and experienced cadre of players returning next year.

"I'm really proud of the kids... The kids played hard and went out strong," coach Tanner Mitchell told the paper. "We have a good core coming back and we were right there in a lot of games this season... Because of injury or illnesses, a few times we started a lineup with four juniors and a freshman, and we were really competitive"

Read the full stories about Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South on the Suburban Life website.