Bergeron's late heroics lift Dundee-Crown past Crystal Lake Central
Gabe Bergeron was in the right place at the right time.
Bergeron's rebound basket off a missed free throw by Damarion Butler with 3.8 seconds remaining gave Dundee-Crown a 55-53 victory over Crystal Lake Central in Fox Valley Conference boys basketball action in Crystal Lake Friday night.
"I anticipated the miss and wanted to make sure I had great position to get a rebound and make a shot," said Bergeron. "I knew I had plenty of time to get a shot up. It was a tough game and a great win."
Bergeron, who was saddled with foul trouble the entire night, ended with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
"With all the foul trouble Gabe had all night and he ended up with a very good game," said D-C coach Lance Huber. "Gabe made a play at the end and we escaped with a win."
D-C seemed to be in good shape for an easy win after a putback by Brad Stec with 3:22 left in the third quarter which gave the Chargers a 45-30 advantage.
Central started its comeback to end the third quarter by scoring the final 9 points which included a putback by Alex Timmerman at the buzzer to make the score 45-39 after 24 minutes.
The Tigers continued to whittle away at the D-C lead in the fourth quarter and grabbed a 1-point advantage 53-52 on a 3-pointer by Colton Haviland with 14.8 seconds left.
Butler made the front end of a 1-and-1 to tie the score at 53 which set up Bergeron's game-winning heroics.
"We have lost a lot of games like this over the last few years," said Bergeron. "We are winning close games this year and that is awesome. We have tremendous team chemistry and we are working hard to have a good season."
Jack Orndahl backed Bergeron with 15 points including 10 in the third quarter. The senior guard was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
"With Gabe in foul trouble Jack really stepped up in the third quarter," said Huber. "He hit some big outside shots and loosened things up in the middle."
Timmerman, 10-of-11 from the free throw line, led the Tigers with 19 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
"I am surprised he had only 19 points I thought he might have scored 100 points," kidded Huber. "We tried a lot of different defenses and put a lot of different kids on him. Nothing worked. He is a ton and a great player."
Christian Lerum added 10 for the Tigers with a trey.
D-C, 21-of-44 from the field, connected on 5-of-10 from 3-point range.
The Chargers committed 10 turnovers in the game.