Crystal Lake Central tops Crystal Lake S.
It was good news, bad news night for Crystal Lake South.
The good news was the Gators outscored host Crystal Lake Central 40-36 in the first, second and fourth quarters.
It was the nightmarish second quarter where Central blitzed the stunned Gators 23-7 which cost South dearly.
The final result was a Central 59-47 win over the Gators in Fox Valley Conference crossover action Saturday night. The game was part of the Hoops for Heroes day which saw girls and boys games between Central and South. Proceeds from the games were distributed to local military families.
In the methodical first quarter, South’s Nick Geske buried a 3-pointer late in the quarter to give the Gators a 3-point, 11-8 lead after 8 minutes.
Crystal Lake South (2-4) would like to forget about the second quarter meltdown.
Central (5-1) seized control of the game when Brad Knoeppel scored on a conventional 3-pointer to give the Tigers the lead for good 19-16 with 4:22 left before intermission.
The rest of the quarter belonged to Central. With Kyle Fleck and Corban Murphy scoring 5 points each, the Tigers ended the half on a 15-2 run and led 31-18 after 16 minutes.
The Tigers made 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-3 from 3-point range in the decisive second quarter.
“They got red hot in the second quarter and we could never recover,” said South coach Matt LePage. “They made everything they shot. They got easy shots from their defense.”
The closest the Gators got in the second half was 8, 43-35, after a layup by Austin Rogers off a nifty pass from Max Meitzler with 7 minutes left in the game. The Gators couldn’t get any closer.
Central iced the game in the final minute as Knoeppel connected on 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
Knoeppel paced the Tigers’ balanced attack with 18 points to go along with 4 assists. Murphy added 14 points and Fleck scored 12 with 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
“Being a crosstown rival game, I thought we came out and played nervous in the first quarter,” said Central coach Rich Czeslewski. “We settled down and played a great second quarter. We stepped up and made shots. “
Rogers paced the Gators with 13 points while Meitzler scored 11 with 12 rebounds. Geske added 8 points with a pair of 3-pointers.