Big second half propels Dundee-Crown

DeKALB — It took 16 minutes for Dundee-Crown to get going, but the Chargers took control in the second half. Juwan Stewart scored 16 points and the Chargers downed DeKalb, 62-52, in nonconference boys basketball action here Tuesday night.

The Barbs closed the first half on a 9-1 run to take a 31-25 advantage. But it was a different Charger team that showed up after the break. With Stewart scoring 8 points, the Chargers outscored their hosts 25-11 in the third quarter, opening an 8-point lead.

“I didn’t think we were playing badly,” said Chargers’ coach Lance Huber. “We just had some careless turnovers in the second quarter. We said if we could eliminate them, we were playing pretty well defensively. We didn’t think that they could score on us. We took care of the turnovers. It was hard for them to score, they turned it over, and we got some easy buckets off that.”

Indeed, four DeKalb turnovers fueled the Chargers’ third-quarter run. Nick Munson made a steal and fed Sam Buckley for an easy layup. Later, a Zach Pochop steal led to a layup for Kiwaun Seals that made it 43-38. Stewart then scored 6 straight points for D-C before a Seals free throw made it 50-42 after 24 minutes.

The Chargers featured balanced scoring. Malik Dunner finished with 11 points, Seals and Cordero Parson each had 9 and Buckley added 8 for the Chargers (2-4). Parson also added 8 rebounds.

Michael Pollack scored 14 points, Luke Davis III had 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Jaced Kitchen added 10 points for DeKalb (2-5).

D-C led for most of the first half. A 3-pointer by Buckley at the first-quarter buzzer, one of only 2 for the Chargers, made it 16-11. They stretched the lead to 18-11 before the turnovers started to take their toll. D-C made 7 in the second period alone, which contributed to the Barbs’ big run.