A standout wide receiver in football, Kendric Pryor is committed to Wisconsin. On the basketball court, he also knows a little bit about how playing defense can catch on with teammates.
The 6-foot-3 senior forward scored 12 points and Jeffery Boyd added eight Friday night as Homewood-Flossmoor went into shutdown mode on Sandburg for a 46-23 SouthWest Suburban Blue victory.
What a difference 72 hours can make.
After losing for the first time in more than two weeks Tuesday in an upset at Bloom, H-F (13-5, 6-1) cranked up its defensive activity and held Sandburg (7-11, 1-6) to the lowest point total in program history.
“We took it personal to bounce back and show we can play defense,” Pryor said. “Our goal is to keep teams to 12 points a quarter. We obviously met our goal (Friday).”
H-F dashed to a 12-0 lead behind a quick five points from Trelan Morrow, who finished with seven points and three assists. He sat out the final quarter with the rest of H-F’s starters.
“We didn’t know what happened to us against Bloom,” Morrow said. “(Coach Marc Condotti) was really on us about playing defense, so we just wanted to come back because we know we can play defense against anybody.”
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Tyler DeMartra had three steals and Boyd added two blocks and a steal for the Vikings, who have a 6-2 record in 2016.
Sandburg competed hard on the defensive end but looked like a deer in headlights during multiple offensive sets. The Eagles’ 23 points were its lowest total since the school opened in 1954, according to coach Todd Allen.
Zak Razik scored nine points to pace Sandburg. No other player scored more than two points for the Eagles, who were whistled for 10-second and five-second calls in the first half.
H-F, on the other hand, put nine players in the scoring column in a game that was never in doubt.
“We knew we were going to win, so we wanted to get everyone involved,” Morrow said.
Condotti said there’s been a major focus on defense.
“We think this is a man-to-man group, we just have to come out and prove it once in a while,” Condotti said. “We did a nice job on the basketball, but off the basketball we still have some work to do — be in passing lanes.”
H-F’s offense flowed behind the steady play of Pryor, Boyd and Morrow. Sandburg started in a zone defense, but Pryor was silky smooth from the perimeter, scoring nine first-half points on 3-for-5 shooting behind the arc.
“I’m making less mistakes than I was as a junior,” Pryor said. “As a senior, I’m learning how got to get everyone involved, so I’m just taking shots that are through the offense.”
Logan Malloy is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.