Dundee-Crown 53, Crystal Lake South 46
He can score from inside, outside and from the free throw line.
You get the picture.
Crystal Lake South just couldn't contain Dundee-Crown junior Jeff Beck.
Beck tallied 30 points, dealt out 5 assists and grabbed 8 rebounds to lead the Chargers to a 53-46 victory over Crystal Lake South in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball game in Carpentersville Friday night.
"I hit my first shot, which I never do." Said Beck. "I was in a good rythym tonight. It seemed like everything was going in. I was able to get to the basket and get some easy baskets and I was very comfortable at the free throw line."
Beck, who was 9-of-13 from the field, made 10-of-11 from the free throw line including 7-of-8 in the fourth quarter.
"We had high expectations for Jeff this year," said Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber.
"We needed him to come up big and he did tonight. He steadied us down when South came back and he knocked down some clutch free throws."
The Chargers (9-8, 2-1) pretty much dominated the cold shooting Gators (10-8, 0-3) for three quarters.
Led by Beck's 21 points including 12 in the third quarter, the Chargers headed into the final quarter with a 39-24 lead. Through three quarters, the Gators converted only 10-of-47 shots for 21 percent.
Crystal Lake South junior forward Eric Wilde, who scored only 3 points through three quarters, heated up during the final 8 minutes.
Connecting on three 3-pointers, Wilde led a 16-9 Gator run and South got within 5 at 45-40 with 1:10 left.
But Beck ensured victory for the Chargers. The D-C junior made 7-of-8 from the line in the final minute to give Dundee-Crown a 7-point win.
"Beck reminds me of (Paul) Mallers last year," said Crystal Lake South coach Dan DeBruycker. "He is a real good offensive player who can score so many ways. He is very hard to defend."
Zack Carpenter paced the Gators with 18 points. Wilde scored 16, 13 in the fourth quarter.
"We played on our heels for three quarters," said DeBruycker. "We hit some shots in the fourth quarter and it was contagious. We played hard for three quarters, but we didn't do a good job with detail. We had kids running the wrong plays. That is unacceptable. This team is really doubting themselves right now. We are playing with no confidence."
Huntley 39, Prairie Ridge 28: The boys basketball teams from Huntley and Prairie Ridge combined for a grand total of 7 points in the first quarter and 23 points in the first half of their Fox Division meeting in Huntley Friday night.
Unfortunately for each team, that lack of production was not the byproduct of great defense being played by the other.
Rather, the anemic totals resulted from multiple mental mistakes and missed shots, trends that continued throughout most of a game in which Huntley committed 17 turnovers and Prairie Ridge shot 29 percent from the field (13 of 45).
But before Dr. Naismith could roll over in his grave, the Red Raiders pulled away from their guests by putting together a solid third quarter, which was enough to emerge with a 39-28 victory.
"Oh my gosh, it was one of the ugliest games we've played all year, but a win's a win, which makes it a good game," said Huntley guard Zac Boster.
Boster, a junior, sank a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter, when Huntley snapped out of its doldrums to hit 6 of its 8 shots, which bucked a trend. The Red Raiders (13-6, 3-0) sank just 7 shots in the other three quarters combined.
Despite the fact Prairie Ridge (3-18, 1-2) connected on 4 of 17 first-half attempts -- "These guys got any open shot they wanted; They just didn't hit any," Wolves coach Corky Card said of his team -- it was nevertheless able to trim a 5-point halftime deficit to 14-11 early in the third quarter when junior Bryan Bradshaw scored on a fast-break layup off a Huntley turnover.
But Huntley responded with a 15-4 run to take control. Junior Dan Regan hit a rising jumper and a 3-pointer, Mike Gonzaga scored an inside bucket after he was fed with a nice bounce pass from Jordan Neukirch, Pat Zachary rattled home a short leaner on a baseline drive and Boster sank a pair of 3-pointers, the latter of which opened a 29-15 lead with 31 seconds left in the period.
The Red Raiders sank 3 of 4 from 3-point range in the third quarter after shooting 2 of 8 from beyond the arc in the first half.
Huntley coach Marty Manning stressed to his perimeter players at halftime that they had to do a better job of being prepared to shoot when the ball was kicked out to them against Prairie Ridge's 2-3 zone.
"I told them at halftime, especially Zac, 'You've got to be ready to shoot. That's what you're here for.' " Manning said. "And he did a great job pulling away for us."
Regan finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds for the Red Raiders. Mike Ungari led Prairie Ridge with 10 points.
-- Jerry Fitzpatrick
Cary-Grove 45, McHenry 31: With 13 first-quarter points from Mark Tometich, who led all scorers with 20 points, Cary-Grove (11-9, 2-1) got ahead early and held on for this Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win.
Paul Tometich added 9 points for the Trojans.