Boys Basketball: Long shots fall for Hinsdale Central in win

Hinsdale Central didn’t come into Saturday night’s game against Rolling Meadows looking to launch a lot of outside shots.

But that’s what the Mustangs were giving them and the Red Devils took advantage connecting on 10 treys in a 71-62 nonconference victory in Hinsdale.

“That’s what they gave us, we didn’t come in thinking ‘We’re going to shoot a bunch of three’s tonight,’ ” Hinsdale Central coach Nick Latorre said. “In fact, we thought we had an advantage inside and we wanted to go inside, but they played a match-up zone. When we were able to skip the ball and move the ball quickly that’s what was open.”

The Red Devils (5-1) trailed 50-47 heading into the fourth quarter but Brad Anlauf (24 points) scored eight points, including two treys, during a 10-0 run to start the quarter. Defense was also a key during the run as the Mustangs had no shot attempts.

Rolling Meadows (4-4) was able to chip away and pulled within 60-59 but Alec Hutcherson (17 points) knocked down a triple followed by a layup from Rigas Pappas to extend the lead back to 65-59 with just over a minute to play.

Hinsdale Central was 9-for-10 from the free-throw line in the fourth, including 6-for-6 in the final minute to help seal the victory.

“We got off to a slow start but we just have to have faith in our offense,” said Anlauf, who was 6-for-8 from beyond the arc. “We started getting used to the zone and that helped me a lot in the second half. I got a lot more open looks.”

While Anlauf did the heavy lifting in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 points in the final frame, it was Hutcherson that kept the Red Devils in it early. The 6-foot-2 junior guard hit his first four shots, three from three-point land, to give Hinsdale Central a 20-18 lead after the first quarter.

“I was feeling pretty good (in warm-ups),” Hutcherson said. “I wasn’t missing a whole lot and just got in a rhythm. It’s a good win. It’s always hard to get back-to-back wins and we got a win yesterday (65-49 over Downers North).”

Anlauf hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Red Devils into the break with a 34-31 advantage. Rolling Meadows played much better in the third quarter as Tyler Gaedele scored eight of his team-high 22 points to give the Mustangs a 50-47 lead heading into the fourth. But they would be undone in the final period, where they scored just 12 points.

“We just kind fell apart on offense,” Gaedele said. “They kept hitting their shots late in the game. (Anlauf) was unstoppable. It was a good physical game. The better team just won.”

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