Cary-Grove dumps Prairie Ridge
Cary-Grove senior guard Sam Carhart knows if the Trojans' boys basketball team can get off to a fast start, they're definitely tough to stop.
While the Trojans didn't open up that way during a 50-35 Fox Valley Conference win at Prairie Ridge Friday, C-G certainly kicked off the third quarter feverishly, where it lived up to the hype and couldn't be stopped.
After trailing 17-16 at the half on 5 of 12 shooting and 11 turnovers, the Trojans (9-10, 5-4) solved the Wolves' zone defense, shot 7-for-11 from the field and mounted a 17-2 third quarter on two separate runs. C-G also held the Wolves (7-13, 3-6) to a 1-for-7 showing in third and when the quarter was all said and done, the Trojans led 33-19 and pushed it to 16 at one point in the fourth.
"We just kept our confidence," said Carhart, who totaled 7 points but hauled in 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists. "We played more as a team in the second half and we made the extra pass which got the open looks."
The open looks came on coach Adam McCloud's adjustment on offense. Instead of three guys inside, C-G just left one near the rim and stretched the floor by going to four on the perimeter. That change allowed the Trojans to find an open man on the backside and helped them get 8 layups in the second half.
"Our guards did an outstanding job," McCloud said. "That's a tough defense to play against. They're hounding you the whole night. You don't get a break so our guards did great handling the pressure."
Luc Bressett's 3-pointer started the quarter off and Ben Ferrell added a layup with 7 minutes left for a quick 5-0 run to reclaim the lead. Carhart sank a 3 with 4:15 left which led to a quarter-ending 12-0 run, where he was active during that stretch on the defensive end with 2 steals and finding the open man. One of Carhart's steals turned into a Ferrell layup with 3:05 left that gave C-G a 26-19 and off another Carhart steal, Beaumont Frericks sank a corner 3 for a 31-19 lead with 2:02 to go.
"We came out and we just tried to swing the ball around to break down the defense," said Ferrell, who totaled 8 rebounds and scored 6 of his game-high 15 points in the third quarter. "(Coach) said we needed to cut out the turnovers and play good D. I felt like our defense was pretty good we just had to turn up the offense and limit the turnovers."
Cary-Grove totaled 56.2 percent from the field thanks to a 13-for-20 second half, a far cry from its first half numbers. Frericks (6 points), Charlie Walsh (5 points) and Addison West (7 points) all supplied huge baskets. Prairie Ridge, led by Connor Kazin's 9 points on three 3-pointers, shot just 40.6 percent, 35 in the second half. And for the first time in Corky Card's run as coach of the Wolves, PR didn't attempt a free throw.
"That'd be a first in my 16 years," said Card, whose team committed 15 turnovers. "They played good defense and they handled our pressure. They hit good shots."