Red Raiders look to improve

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By DOUG OLESON DEKALB – Richard Gonzaga knows what he has to work on for the remainder of the holiday vacation. "I have to work on catching the ball," Huntley's 6-feet, 3-inch center said. "I dropped a couple." "I told him if he could have hung onto the ball, he could've scored 30 points," senior guard Zac Boster joked. As it was, Boster and Gonzaga scored 14 and 12 points respectively to lead the Red Raiders to a commanding 55-27 win over Dixon in their final game of the Chuck Dayton Christmas Tournament last Saturday afternoon in DeKalb. More than improving their record to 7-5, the lopsided victory was important in another way, mainly for restoring some confidence after dropping two games the day before. 'We didn't really play well in all facets of the game (the day before)," Huntley Coach Marty Manning said. "This was a good bounce back game for us." Before their first game of 2009, Manning said he'd show his team film of their losses rather than their wins to drill them on what they need to improve on. "All the guys have been very frustrated because we haven't been playing well," Boster agreed. "We didn't do a very good job of attacking the basket." As a result, Huntley lost to both Rochelle, 56-41, and LaSalle-Peru, 47-40. After opening the tournament with a loss to Harlem, 63-62, the Raiders hammered Bronzeville, 75-25. That same pattern continued against the hapless Dukes. Leading throughout the game, Huntley outscored Dixon16-2 in the second quarter and 13-7 in the third. "When you have good team defense, it's hard to score," Manning said. "It seemed every time Dixon shot, we had a hand in their face." With the loss, Dixon fell to 3-10. "Everyone just played real well," Boster said. "It was important (to win) because we lost our last two games," Gonzaga said. "Coach said we have a lot of talent but we have to step up." Against Dixon, it seemed the Red Raiders could essentially do whatever they wanted on offense, driving to the hoop on almost every play. In the thick of the action was Gonzaga, who played better than he gave himself credit for. "I can't let my teammates down," he said. "They work so hard to get me the ball, if I drop it I'm letting them down." Gonzaga admitted playing three games in two days was starting to take a toll. "I'm not that athletic," he said, "so I have to work really hard."