Cary-Grove 57, Crystal Lake South 52

Mark Tometich had a good feeling when the ball left his hands.

Tometich's 3-pointer with 42 seconds left gave Cary-Grove the lead for good at 52-50, and the Trojans were able to hold off upset-minded Crystal Lake South 57-52 In a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game in Crystal Lake Friday night.

Tometich ended the game with 25 points, which included a 7-of-10 effort from 3-point range.

"The last shot I made I was in total rhythmn and I got some great screens," said the Cary-Grove senior guard. "We had good rotation with the ball all night. My teammates do a great job of getting me the ball when I am hot. I give them a lot of credit. This is the hardest game I have been in all year. Both teams played hard. This is a good win for our confidence."

Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schueltze is proud of the progress Tometich has made as a player this season.

"Mark is playing with a lot of confidence and he is being very patient," said the Cary-Grove boss. "He is not forcing things. If he has an open 3 I want him to shoot it."

Keyed by Tometich's 3, the Trojans (12-9, 3-1) outscored the snake-bitten Gators 8-2 in Waning moments. A layup by Alex Jordan and 2 free throws by Dan Bartz iced the win for Cary-Grove.

"This was a hard fought game," said Schueltze. "South played very well and neither team had a big lead. Mark had a big scoring night, but we got contributions from a lot of people."

The Gators (10-10, 0-4), losers of 5 straight, held a 5-point, 44-39, with 5:36 left after 2 free throws by Chris Reuter.

"We were at the bottom of the hole after the D-C (Dundee-Crown) game last week," said South coach Dan DeBruycker. "I thought we played well last Saturday against Bartlett and played well tonight against Cary-Grove. We needed one shot, one rebound, one free throw, one something to win and just fell short. We played with a lot of heart and effort tonight. I thought Wesley Evans did a great job on Tometich, But he made some awesome fadeaway shots and he hit a couple of huge 3s in the fourth quarter.

Following Tometich, Ben Jacquier scored 10 for the Trojans. Mike Brockway and Eric Wilde led the Gators with 14 apiece while Steven Rogers scored 13.