Cary-Grove 59, Dundee-Crown 55
Experience matters, which was evident in the final stages of the Cary-Grove boys basketball team's 59-55 victory at Dundee-Crown on Tuesday night.
Playing four seniors and junior point guard Pete Pellizari against Dundee-Crown's lineup of mostly juniors, the Trojans demonstrated superior resolve in the fourth quarter, a will to win forged during 9 losses this season by 6 points or less.
After Dundee-Crown junior guard Greg McNally gave the Chargers their final lead of the game, 53-52, by splashing a 3-pointer from the left corner with 2:32 to play, the Trojans outscored D-C 7-2 in the final two minutes to secure second place in the Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference all alone.
Cary-Grove (13-10, 4-2) tied the game at 53 when senior Matt McCord sank the first of 2 free throws. McCord missed the second, but senior Paul Tometich tipped home the offensive rebound to stake the Trojans to a 55-53 lead with 1:54 to play.
"I was just looking to wrap my left leg around and box my guy out," Tometich said. "When McCord misses he doesn't miss long. He usually misses short or to the side and I'm used to that, so when it came off I just tipped it in."
Said D-C coach Lance Huber: "That was a big key. That put them up and gave them the momentum they needed. We kind of had to chase it a bit and they got a couple stops."
Dundee-Crown (11-10, 4-3) missed a pair of free throws that could have knotted the game with 1:23 to play.
Cary's Mark Tometich (17 points) subsequently sank a pair of free throws at the other end with 40 seconds left, but Jeff Beck pulled the Chargers back within a bucket when he wriggled free for an easy layup on an inbounds play, thanks to an alert pass from McNally with 19.8 seconds left.
Forced to foul, the Chargers put Cary-Grove's Dan Bartz on the line with 12.9 seconds to play. With the D-C student section chanting, "Pressure, pressure," Bartz, a senior, calmly stroked both shots to make it a 2-possession game.
Pellizari then blocked McNally's 3-point attempt with seconds remaining and time expired.
The win, Cary-Grove's fourth in 5 games, gave the Trojans a season sweep of the Valley series.
"Everybody stepped up," Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle said. "Bartz hitting those free throws, Paul's tip-in on the miss of the free throw, Mark making some big-time jumpshots, McCord with some driving layups."
Cary-Grove, which shot 13 of 19 from the field in the second half (68.4 percent), including 4 of 7 from 3-point range, received balanced contributions from Jacquier (11 points), Alex Jordan (8 points) Paul Tometich (7 points, 12 rebounds) and McCord (7 points).
Beck led all scorers with 19 points while McNally sank five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points for D-C.
The two teams will meet for a third time on, Feb. 27 in a semifinal of the Class 4A Crystal Lake South regional.
Jacobs 51, CL South 45:ŒJacobs boys basketball coach Jim Hinkle says Eric Schmidt isn't afraid of anything.
Schmidt certainly showed no fear Tuesday night when Crystal Lake South almost dared him to shoot the ball.
The senior hit a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter in a tied game after the Gators erased a 10-point Jacobs lead. The basket gave the Golden Eagles enough of a spark to escape with a 51-45 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division victory.
"I didn't think it was that big of a shot," Schmidt said. "I just caught it in rhythm and shot it."
Jacobs (21-2, 7-0) took a 36-26 lead into the fourth quarter despite shooting 1-for-11 from the floor in the third quarter. The only field goal was a 3-pointer from Zack Peterson, who led Jacobs with 17 points, with 51 seconds remaining.
The Golden Eagles continued to struggle in the fourth, allowing the Gators (11-11, 1-5) to rally. Mike Brockway's 3-pointer with 5:10 left in the game capped a 6-0 run and cut Jacobs' lead to 36-35. After the Golden Eagles' Conrad Krutwig hit a free throw, John Moran's steal and layup with 4:51 gave Jacobs a 39-35 lead. The basket was the Golden Eagles first of the quarter. They were 0-for-5 to open the fourth.
Steven Rogers' offensive rebound and putback made it a 2-point game. Chris Reuter's 2 free throws with 4:13 left tied the game at 39-39.
"Our offensive execution got us to that point," Gators coach Dan DeBruycker said.
"People talk about trying to stop Jacobs. I think a big thing you have to get some good offensive possessions and not turn the ball over."
On Jacobs' next possession, the Gators were sagging their defense inside to keep the ball away from Krutwig. That left Schmidt wide open in the left corner. Schmidt calmly hit his only basket of the game, the 3-pointer to give Jacobs a 42-39 lead.
"He did that so many times for us last year and now he comes up again this year," Hinkle said. "He plays well under pressure. It was a big shot for him. If that's what they're giving us, go ahead and take it."
Peterson then added another 3-pointer less than 30 seconds later to increase the lead to 45-39. The Golden Eagles played keepaway for most of the final 2 minutes and hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 67 seconds.
Jacobs, which led by as many as 14 in the first quarter, shot 4-for-21 in the second half and 14-for-42 in the game.
"Their zone really slowed the pace of the game down," Hinkle said. "When you're able to pull it out shooting (19 percent in the second half), you've got to feel good about that."
Krutwig finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds. John Moran added 9 points and 6 rebounds.
Wesley Evans and Rogers each had 13 points to lead the Gators. Rogers also had 12 rebounds. Eric Wilde finished with 10 points.
-- Brian Schaumburg
St. Charles North 53, Burlington Central 51: Jonathan DeMoss received plenty of cheers from the St. Charles North crowd for his team-high 21 points in the North Stars' 53-51 win over Burlington Central Tuesday night.
Mike Kastel drew even more applause when he sank the game-winning free throws with 5.5 seconds left, shots that held up for the win when Mike McCurdy's running 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the backboard and rim.
But none of those players drew the loudest roar on an emotional night in St. Charles.
That went to the St. Charles North drill team, performing at halftime for the first time since Friday's passing of senior drill team member Lauren Laman.
Football coach and public address announcer Mark Gould told the crowd the halftime routine would be "dedicated to a shining Star."
The drill team got a standing ovation before starting and another when they finished a flawless performance, with hugs all around and very few dry eyes anywhere in the gym.
That included the hero on the court, Kastel.
"She was a friend of everybody, she was just a great person," Kastel said. "It was a real emotional night for everyone. What a better way to get a win for the drill team and her family."
St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin got choked up before collecting his thoughts.
"It put a lot of things in perspective for us," Poulin said. "Our heart goes out to that family. It is a tough subject to talk about here…
"We stress to our guys how important each day is and how to take advantage of each day. One of the things we have in our locker room is tomorrow is not promised to anyone… It's just tough."
Kastel's free throws denied Burlington Central (17-6) a second straight win over a St. Charles school after the Rockets upended St. Charles East 65-63 last week.
Burlington almost made it a St. Charles sweep against the North Stars (14-10), who took advantage of their height and the Rockets' early foul trouble to build a 33-23 halftime lead.
At one point in the second quarter, Burlington forward Shane Larkin had 4 fouls and star guard McCurdy 3 -- and both stayed in the game.
That move paid off, as neither wound up fouling out. McCurdy finished with a game-high 25 points.
"It just comes down to take them out and struggle or put them back in and maybe he doesn't get that fourth or fifth foul and we're in the game," Burlington Central coach Chris Payne said.
Jason Wagner, who hit seven 3-pointers and scored 28 points against St. Charles East, didn't score in the first half. He heated up in the third quarter with 9 points as the Rockets cut the North Stars' lead to 43-37 heading to the fourth.
Burlington Central still trailed 49-43 with 3:28 remaining after Mike Lefelstein's 2 free throws. Lefelstein provided the North Stars a spark off the bench with 11 points.
"We knew it was going to be a dogfight to the end," Poulin said. "We did some things that I'm not real happy about as far as taking some ill-advised shots and kind of shot them back into the game. We made it difficult on ourselves but it's also a credit to them."
McCurdy's acrobatic layup brought the Rockets within 50-49 with 1:08 left, then a steal by Jake McNutt led to another quick layup for McCurdy and the Rockets' first lead since the first quarter, 51-50 with 57 seconds to go.
St. Charles North finished with a 31-15 rebounding advantage. The two biggest came in the final 10 seconds, two offensive rebounds that led to Kastel's game-winning free throws.
"We just have to finish and get the rebound," Payne said. "That's something that has hurt as all year and we've just got to get better at it."
DeMoss went to the line trailing 51-50 with 11 seconds left. He hit the first to tie the game, and after the Rockets' final timeout, missed the second.
Tim Janeway grabbed the missed free throw but couldn't convert his putback. Kastel pulled down that miss, got fouled and hit the winning free throws.
"For Mike to knock down those free throws, Mike has come along way since the beginning of the year," Poulin said. "He was somewhat of a question mark (at the line) and he stays in the gym and works on it, asks advice and listens. I'm really proud of him."
And Kastel was just glad to have an opportunity to do something small to help someone besides himself, a common theme by the St. Charles community Tuesday night. That included the Storm youth basketball program donating $100 in Laman's honor instead of taking their normal chance to play during halftime of the varsity game.
"I was thinking about the game, I was thinking about everything on the line," Kastel said, "but at the same time what better way to celebrate her life and give something to her family and the drill team here at the game today. It was a great way to end the night."
-- John Lemon
Johnsburg 50, Huntley 47: Despite a 5-point second quarter, Huntley was in a position to win.
Sharpshooter Zac Boster nailed his third 3-pointer with 36 seconds remaining of the second half to put the host Red Raiders within 46-45 of Johnsburg in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division contest.
Instead of walking away with a still unblemished league record, Huntley left Tuesday's game with a foul taste.
Sophomores Mike Dixon and C.J. Fiedorowicz each sank a pair of free throws after Boster's 3-pointer and the Skyhawks handed Huntley a 50-47 loss.
Johnsburg (11-12, 3-3) used a 15-3 second-half foul advantage over Huntley (15-7, 5-1) to never allow the Red Raiders to run away with the contest.
"It hurt us, but a lot of that was our own doing," Red Raiders coach Marty Manning said.
Huntley had a chance to tie the game with 6 seconds remaining, but point guard Tom Giordano never got a handle on the ball and took an off balance 3-pointer.
Fiedorowicz hauled in the rebound and was quickly fouled. The 6-foot-7 center converted both free throws to put Johnsburg ahead 50-45 with 4 seconds left. Fiedorowicz used his considerable height advantage over Huntley's Mike Gonzaga (6-1) and Brett DePorter (6-1) to finishe with 25 points and 14 rebounds.
More importantly, Fiedorowicz drew 6 fouls on Huntley's defense in the second half putting the Skyhawks in the bonus with 7:21 left in the fourth quarter. He finished the game 10 of 12 from the free-throw line, while Huntley was just 3 of 5.
"They did a good job getting the ball inside to Fiedorowicz," Boster said. "They have a glaring size advantage on us. It's tough to guard a guy like that."
Johnsburg also found it tough guarding Boster. After holding the junior guard scorless in the first half, Boster shot Huntley back into the game in the second half.
Boster scored all of his 14 team-high points in the second half, including his 3-pointer to put Huntley within 1 point with 36 seconds remaining.
The shot came after a Johnsburg timeout called specifically to prevent Boster from getting a shot off.
"We said it five times," Johnsburg coach Matt Ryndak said. "If there are 3 better shooters in the state I'd like to see them. The kid can shoot the ball."
Jordan Neukirch added 8 of his 10 points in the second half for the Red Raiders. Neukirch nailed a 3-pointer to give Huntley a 42-37 lead -- the Red Raiders' largest in the second half -- with 4 minutes, 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Red Raiders would not score again until Boster's 3-pointer nearly four minutes later.
-- Matt Stacionis
Lake Forest Academy 74, Elgin Academy 25: In the Independent School League the Hilltoppers (2-19, 0-13) fell to Lake Forest Academy. Jeff Moller led for EA collecting a team high 9 points. Paul Leonardis also added 6 points to the board for the Hilltoppers.