Penn-bound Kukoc leads Highland Park past Carmel

Senior scores all 21 of his points in second half of 61-40 win

Many times this season, Highland Park boys basketball team has had many players step up.

On Monday night, Penn-bound Marin Kukoc took the Giant step up, scoring a game-high 21 points, all in the second half. 
 

Thus, Highland Park, the No. 15 seed in the Class 4A Waukegan Sectional, rolled past No. 18 Carmel Catholic 61-40 in the Deerfield Regional quarterfinals.
 
The Giants (17-10), who have won 12 of their last 14 games, will get their third meeting against host and No. 2 seed Deerfield (22-3) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Highland Park lost 44-27 and 41-23 in the teams’ first two games.
 
Highland Park led Carmel 25-23 starting the second half and fell behind 28-26 in the opening couple of minutes of the third quarter. But then Kukoc hit back-to-back three-pointers, which started the Giants scoring 18 straight points for a 44-30 lead by the end of the quarter. 
 
"I felt like if we can wear (Carmel) down, we should be OK," Highland Park coach Paul Harris said. "The game went on in the third quarter. We had the spurt and that was the difference. We just feed off Kukoc's performance. We're shooting with a little more confidence and winning breeds that confidence."
 
Kukoc didn't really appear in the first half at all. Kukoc was on the floor without any points and picked up his second foul with just under five minutes left in the second quarter. Kukoc had to sit the rest of time on the bench until the second half. That's when the turnaround happened for Kukoc with his shooting touch.
 
"First half, I came out slow and the team needed me to pick things up," said Kukoc, who recently decided to play his college ball at Penn next year. "The team kept finding me and it finally got to me. Usually, it takes me a basket to get me going. It gets you rolling and gets the confidence going.

"We usually look for whoever is hot, do what we need to do and knock down shots."
 
Kukoc, who also had four rebounds and four steals, had a total of three treys in the third quarter and added another 12 points in the final quarter to keep the Corsairs (10-17) at a distance.
 
"Kukoc started hitting shots and (Highland Park) was on," Carmel coach John Ryan said. "First half (Kukoc) didn't have any points and that was the big difference."
 
The Giants' Jonny Stempel added 13 points and four steals, which helped Highland Park secure its 25-23 halftime lead.
 
"We're just playing hard and I read the eyes," said Stempel, who scored seven in the second quarter. "We just keep the ball out of the inside and want it outside. It's all about anticipation on the perimeter. We just play awesome as a team together."
 
Tyler Max contributed with nine points, Jordan Reisner and Cole Stern each scored seven points apiece for the Giants.