Fourth quarter separates Dundee-Crown from Huntley

It was a typical, back-and-forth Fox Valley Conference boys basketball game between Dundee-Crown and host Huntley on Tuesday.

Until the fourth quarter.

Junior wing Jordan Hairston scored 7 of his game-high 16 points in the final period as Dundee-Crown outscored the Red Raiders 18-4 to win 52-37 and complete a season series sweep.

"It changed so much in the fourth because we started moving the ball well, we started getting the ball inside and we got the stops on defense that we needed," Hairston said.

In fact, Dundee-Crown (9-11, 6-4) got nothing but stops on defense in the fourth quarter. Huntley shot 0 for 11 from the field in the final eight minutes, 0 for 7 from 3-point range.

"It's not good when I can remember all three baskets we made in the second half off the top of my head," said Huntley coach Will Benson, who went on to describe junior guard Patrick Roppolo's 3-pointer to open the second half and a pair of buckets by senior guard Cory Knipp. "I thought we executed our offense pretty well and had looks. We just couldn't get anything to fall."

When Huntley (5-17, 1-9) missed those fourth-quarter shots, the Chargers grabbed the rebound more often than not. The Red Raiders had ruled the boards 22-15 through three quarters, but D-C won the rebounding battle 7-5 in the final period.

"We wanted to do that the whole game," said 6-foot-5 junior Brad Stec, who grabbed 2 of his 6 rebounds in the fourth quarter. "Second half, by boxing out and stepping up, we were able to get the big rebounds."

D-C held possession for over a minute until Hairston drove the lane for a bucket that put the Chargers ahead 41-36 with 3:17 left.

Following a missed 3-pointer by Huntley, 6-5 junior wing Josh Raby hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer from the left wing that staked his team to a 44-36 lead with 2:22 remaining. It was the only shot Raby attempted.

"I had an open look. I thought just let it fly," he said. "We're up by 5. Might as well try to increase the lead and it just went in."

Meanwhile, the Red Raiders sank 3 of 22 second-half shots and 11 of 45 overall. They finished 5 of 28 from 3-point range.

"We were a lot more active on defense in the second half," said D-C senior guard Jack Orndahl, who sank three 3-pointer and scored 15 points.

Junior guard Davis Pasco led Huntley with 11 points and Knipp finished with 6 points and 5 rebounds.