Crystal Lake South steals win at Dundee-Crown

When the lid on the cup is tight, the turnovers pile up and you're eager to end a two-game skid, defensive stops like the one reserve guard Tim Siesennop made midway through the fourth quarter of Crystal Lake South's 39-33 boys basketball win over Dundee-Crown are the reasons you can grind out victories when it doesn't look so promising.

The Gators (4-2, 1-0) bounced back into winning column in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division action Saturday in Carpentersville, fueled by Siesennop's midcourt pick on a D-C inbound pass with 5:30 left that led to the senior's layup and a 28-27 South lead; a play that overshadowed a few struggles for CLS, which made just 16 shots on 37.2 percent clip from the field and committed 18 turnovers.

"I thought Siesennop's steal-layup was enormous, enormous," Gators' coach Matt LePage said. "I could see our bench believe we were going to win at that point."

"I knew we needed a play and I saw the pass and it wasn't very crisp," Siesennop said of his third steal and only points. "We knew our offense wasn't working that great and they have a good defense. But we had to do the same and I thought we played well everywhere; help line and we forced some bad shots for them."

It was South's first bucket in over 4 minutes, a gap that bridged the third and fourth quarters. At one point in the third, the Gators led by 5 after center Joel Friesen's free throw and subsequent charge, but they needed an 11-6 run in the final 5 minutes to avoid a loss. Friesen's hook in the lane with 2 minutes left and a bucket from the right block with a minute to go helped South space itself from a very scrappy Chargers (0-5, 0-1) team who led at the half by 1 thanks to Holden Carlson's putback at the buzzer.

"Second half we were just resilient," said Friesen, who led all scorers with 10 points to go with his 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. "We just didn't want to give up this game and we really wanted and needed it."

Zach Geske added 9 points for South while sophomore Tyler Haskin managed 8 points and 3 steals. South improved on its 5-for-20 shooting mark in the first half by going 11-for-23 in the second half. The Gators also scored 24 points in the paint and scored 12 points off turnovers, piling up 12 steals, including 4 from Luke Nolan.

"It was a grind for both teams and we couldn't make a perimeter shot," LePage said. "We had 20 points in the paint in the second half which is probably the only reason we got out of here and stole a win."

D-C totaled 21 turnovers and shot 13 of 42 from the field. Matt Wiechmann almost willed D-C to a win as scored 6 of his team-high 8 points in the final 8 minutes, two buckets coming in the first minute of the fourth to put D-C up 27-26. But even D-C coach Lance Huber couldn't avoid Siesennop's steal as a major turning point.

"The one right there where we threw the lazy pass, that was huge. That really hurt us," Huber said. "We had such a hard time scoring, when you give up some free ones, it's tough to chase at."