Highland Park's 3-pointers do in Dundee-Crown

Why employ an inside game offensively when the 3-point shot is a better option.

That's the philosophy of the Highland Park boys basketball team.

Connecting on 10-of-25 shots from beyond the arc for 40 percent, the Giants' outside sniping produced a 54-26 nonconference win over Dundee-Crown in Carpentersville Saturday night.

"Our strength is shooting the 3," said Highland Park coach Paul Harris. "We have so many kids who can shoot the 3. We just ask them to take good shots. Our shot selection wasn't that good the first half. We got better looks with the 3s in the second half."

David Sachs paced the Giants with 12 points including 2 treys while Jason Beerman buried three 3s in scoring 11 points. Toby Tigges was a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range for 9 points.

Jordan Kravitz provided inside punch for Highland Park (12-3) with 8 points.

The Giants, who were 7-of-12 on 2-point shots for 58 percent, connected on 17-of-37 from the field for 47 percent.

"Highland Park is a very good team that really shoots the 3-pointer well," said Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber. "They run their offense really well and they are very tough to defend."

The Giants, efficient on the offensive end, were stifling on the defensive end.

Highland Park, which forced 15 D-C turnovers, held the Chargers to 30 percent shooting from the field (9-of-30).

The Giants also held high-scoring Kiwaun Seals to 1 field goal and 4 points.

"We knew Seals is a real good scorer," said Harris. "We really concentrated our defense on him."

Sam Buckley was the lone Charger in double digits with 10 which included a pair of 3s.

Dundee-Crown was within striking distance of the Giants most of the first half. A 15-footer in the lane by Buckley pulled D-C within 4, 14-10, with 5:45 left before halftime.

Highland Park responded with a 13-0 run to seize control of the game. Tigges and Sachs canned 3s as the Giants extended a 4-point lead to 17, 27-10, with 1:44 remaining before intermission.

The Chargers displayed some life before half tallying the final 5 points on a reverse layup by Buckley and a buzzer-beating 3 by Jack Orndahl to cut the Giant lead to 27-15 after 16 minutes.

A 13-0 run by Highland Park covering the third and fourth quarters ensured there wouldn't be a D-C comeback.

The Giants' biggest margin was 31, 53-22, with 1:22 left on a putback by Zachary Fleisher.