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Boys Basketball: Forest Park holds off Carney

Forest Park sophomore guard Riley Hendrickson looks for a way past Carney-Nadeau's Jordan Belec (left) and Preston Lauscher (12) on Saturday. (Burt Angeli/The Daily News)

CRYSTAL FALLS — Forest Park blanketed Carney-Nadeau in a 51-38 Skyline Central Conference game Saturday.

The Trojans’ 2-3 zone defense yielded Hunter Eichhorn’s 1,000th career point Saturday but the rest of the Senior Recognition game was a defensive clinic. The Wolves shot 30 percent from the floor.

“I really felt we had a chance to win it,” said Trojans coach Chris Nocerini. “We had a good game plan for Eichhorn. The kids executed it.”

In a late January game, Eichhorn torched the Trojans (9-10, 4-7 SCC) for 36 points with five triples. He was held to 16 points and three treys Saturday.

“We stayed in that 2-3 zone,” Nocerini said. “We weren’t ready to do that the first time. We’re just too young. We were disciplined today and did an outstanding job.”

The Wolves (13-5, 9-4 SCC) scrapped to a 23-22 halftime edge and trailed 35-33 after three quarters. The Trojans took over with a 10-0 run over the final three minutes of the game.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well,” said Wolves coach Jacob Polfus. “Forest Park did a nice job defensively.

“They pushed us out a little bit (with that 2-3 zone), and I’ve got to have more than one guy to attack. We’re looking too much for Eichhorn.”

Eichhorn entered the game with 985 career points. With 1:43 left in the third quarter, he drained a three-pointer for his 16th of the game and 1,0001st of his career.

“Hunter is just a tremendous kid,” Polfus said of the three-year varsity starter and future Marquette University golfer. “Just like his golf game, he works tremendously hard. At whatever sport he does he wants to be a perfectionist at it. He spends an awful lot of time in the gym that’s just a credit to him.”

Hall of Fame coach Paul Polfus said Eichhorn became the 30th Carney-Nadeau High School basketball boys and girls player to reach 1,000 points.

Eichhorn did not score after reaching the milestone.

“We weren’t leaving him,” Nocerini said. “Whatever side he was on the top guy had to stay with him.

“We’ve given up more threes to Carney than any other school. I said we’re not going to do that today.”

Jacob Kleiman added 15 points for the Wolves.

“They were the more physical team and we’ve struggled with that all year,” Polfus said. “Teams being physical with us we tend to shy away from it and that’s something that Forest Park does well.”

After Kleiman sank two free throws to narrow the gap to 41-38 with 3:37 left, Trojans’ Josh Logan took a pass from sophomore Riley Hendrickson to trigger the 10-0 run.

‘We took care of the ball on offense,” Nocerini said. “Riley Hendrickson is gaining experience as a sophomore. He did a great job dribbling out the clock.”

Junior Jacob Frisanco paced the Trojans with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Logan added 11 points.

Daniel Nocerini, one of three seniors playing their final home game, tacked on nine points and seven rebounds. The other seniors are Dodge Isaacson and Casey Steiro.

“Great team win and what a great way to see the seniors out,” said the Trojans coach. “We had a 10 o’clock walk-through today and I think it helped a ton. These young kids are buying into this stuff. Hopefully we can build some momentum now. This is a nice confidence builder.”

On Tuesday, Forest Park travels to unbeaten North Central and Carney hosts Menominee.

Max Baumler’s 26 points sparked Carney-Nadeau’s junior varsity past Forest Park 53-27. Sean Caron and Tommy Peltoma combined for 19 Forest Park points.

Carney Nadeau 12 11 10 5 — 38

Forest Park 13 9 13 16 — 51

CARNEY-NADEAU: Eichhorn 16, Kleiman 15, Linder 3, Belec 1, Janofski 2, Lauscher 3. FT: 10-16. F: 16. 3PT: Eichhorn 3, Linder 1. FG: 12-40. Rebounds: 17.

FOREST PARK: Hendrickson 2, Nylund 6, Josh Logan 11, Frisanco 13, Jonah Logan 4, Steiro 5, Isaacson 1, Nocerini 9. FT: 9-17. F: 14. 3PT: Nylund 2, Josh Logan 1, Steiro 1. FG: 19-43. Rebounds: 29 (Frisanco 10).

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