HIghlands tops Freeport but not satisfied with performance

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 4, 2019 | 11:03 PM

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Highlands showed good and bad signs in its first game of the new year, driving its coach to frustration at times. And while the pluses and minuses added up to an important section victory, the Golden Rams ended the night wanting more.

Class 4A No. 4 Highlands charged to a big second-quarter lead and weathered a second-half surge from Freeport before pulling away for an 85-68 victory in a Section 1-4A game Friday night.

“We knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy game to walk through,” said junior point guard Luke Cochran, who scored 14 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter to help Highlands stay ahead. “We come in with the same mindset every time, that they’re contenders and here to play.

“We’ve got to be focused. We got up big early, and then we kind of came out second half, slowed up, let kids from the other team get going. … We came together and pulled out a win, which is really big for section, but we just need to continue to grow through the game.”

The Golden Rams (6-2, 2-0), who won their fifth consecutive game, showcased their high-flying offensive ability but also struggled on defense, giving up easy shots and, at times, not getting back in transition.

Coach Tyler Stoczynski called a timeout on one such occasion. Highlands celebrated a Johnny Crise dunk a bit too long, allowing Freeport to score an easy basket in transition.

“Giving up 68 points is inexcusable,” Stoczynski said. “And it’s only inexcusable because we gave so many easy shots up. We do a lot of scouting, and we try to prepare our guys as much as possible and when it becomes a mental part of the game, that’s really where we lack that experience part. We’ve just got to continue to grow and get better.”

Freeport (6-3, 1-1) saw its three-game winning streak end. The Yellowjackets trailed by 19 points at halftime after a big Highlands second quarter, cut the deficit to nine late in the fourth quarter but could not complete the comeback.

Garret Schaffhauser scored 22 of his team-high 26 points in the second half, and Jalen Brown added 24, 16 in the second half.

“We challenged them at halftime to come out and show us what they have, and they did a great job responding,” Freeport coach Wayne Greiser said. “They could have very easily packed it in, and we could have lost by 50. But we battled back and made it a ballgame for a while.”

Highlands played the first quarter without star junior Johnny Crise, who sat for a violation of team rules. But the 6-foot-6 swing man made up for lost time in the second quarter, scoring 14 points in the period — including a thunderous windmill dunk that began the sequence that drew Stoczynski’s ire.

Cochran added a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter, sending Highlands to a 44-25 halftime lead. Crise scored 24 points.

“We have some talented guys who can make some plays,” Stoczynski said, “and we’re really good when we play unselfishly. We’re not very good when we do the opposite. So as long as we keep playing unselfishly and Luke takes the lead of that, when he’s a scorer and facilitator, we are pretty good offensively.”

Brown and Schaffhauser heated up after halftime,both scoring 11 points in the third quarter. With Brown driving to the basket and getting to the line frequently and Schaffhauser scoring inside and outside, Freeport cut Highlands’ lead to 61-50 entering the fourth.

“That’s what we expect from those guys,” Greiser said. “They’re some of our returners who had minutes previous to this year, so we expect that out of them. They took it on their back and did some good things.”

For the second consecutive game, Cochran came up big late for Highlands. The junior, who scored 28 second-half points in the Golden Rams’ comeback win over Blackhawk on Dec. 28, answered Freeport almost basket-for-basket in the fourth quarter. Though he hit four 3-pointers in the game, his work in the fourth consisted of scoring inside.

Freeport didn’t go away easily, as Schaffhauser scored 11 more points in the fourth quarter, hitting two of his four 3-pointers in the period. An Aiden Skradski putback cut Highlands’ lead to nine with 1 minute, 37 seconds remaining, but the Golden Rams answered with a game-closing 8-0 run.

“Every time we play, we get exposed for things we can get better at,” Stoczynski said. “And that’s what we’re going to do: We’re going to look at the tape. We’re going to see what we can get better at, and we’re going to do that. We’re going to adjust those things, and we’re going to teach our guys. We have a great group of guys that want to learn, so it’s a win-win.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Freeport, Highlands