SOUTH BELOIT — Antonio Little was heartbroken after he broke his wrist at the end of last season, but now the South Beloit senior feels he benefitted from it.

“It was horrible, because it was the last game before regionals started,” said Little after hitting five 3-pointers to lead South Beloit to an 89-50 home win against Ashton-Franklin Center Saturday.

“My junior year I was doing a lot more of driving to the rim and scoring that way. But when I broke my wrist, I had to be careful with it, and that’s when I figured I had to develop a shot.”

Practicing his outside shooting during his rehab is the reason Little now leads the area in 3-pointers. It’s also a big reason South Beloit improved to 8-0 on Saturday.

“He worked really hard over the summer after he had that set-back,” said South Beloit coach Mat Parker, whose team improved to 3-0 in the NUIC East.

Little’s string of treys was part of the Sobos’ 31-12 third-quarter run that pulled them away for good against the Raiders.

“My teammates just found me open,” said Little, who is averaging 19.1 points and finished with 17. “I got in the right spots, and it was all my teammates finding me.”

Because the Sobos didn’t compete in a holiday tournament, this was South Beloit’s first game in 18 days. They started slow, going 16-for-40 in first-half field goals. But South Beloit forced 13 AFC turnovers in the first two quarters and led 42-33 at halftime.

Little then sparked South Beloit’s third-quarter attack, which included a 14-0 run halfway through the quarter.

Matt Ennis added three 3-pointers of his own in the game and finished with a team-high 18 points for South Beloit. Matt Peterson had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double in eight games.

Samuel Gendusa (11 points), Alec Borell (10) and Adam Herwig (10) scored in double figures for AFC (0-11, 0-2).

- rrstar.com