Beck's 20 lead D-C to victory

As late as the seventh and eighth grades, Dundee-Crown senior guard Jeff Beck played center.

"I know more about post play than some other guards," he said. "I still like to mix it up with the big guys."

No wonder he looked so comfortable posting up Monday.

Beck, a long-armed 6-foot-1, 185 pounder, scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the third quarter to lead visiting Dundee-Crown to a 57-45 victory over Grayslake North in a Fox Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game in Grayslake.

"That kid is a ton," Grayslake North coach Todd Grunloh said. "Whenever we had smaller guys playing him, he would see the size differential and post up."

In addition to the points he scored down low, Beck also had success backing down his defender and shooting midrange jumpers. His play early in the third quarter helped Dundee-Crown (5-1) open up a 19-point lead.

"He puts us on his back (at times)," Chargers coach Lance Huber said. "He gets us into the offense and is a calming influence on the floor."

Grayslake North (4-3) struggled for most of the third quarter with Dundee-Crown's 3-2 zone. The solution turned out to be speeding up the tempo.

"We started getting stops and beating them back down the court," Grunloh said.

The Knights turned the game around when junior guard Matt Pucher hit a 3-pointer and immediately forced a turnover. His resulting layup cut the deficit to 43-29, and Grayslake North only trailed 47-37 at the end of the third quarter.

A little more than a minute into the fourth quarter and it was a 47-42 game.

"We lost our focus for a three-minute stretch," Huber said. "Our shot selection was poor and they made a run."

Added Beck: "I looked up and it was only five points."

From there, Dundee-Crown settled down and quickly returned the lead to double digits.

"We've been in a lot of situations like that," Huber said about his veteran team.

While all of Beck's scoring came on 2-point baskets and free throws, senior guard Justin Strzelczyk was hot from behind the arc. He hit four of Dundee-Crown's six 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.

Charles Kimbrough, a 6-foot-6 senior, scored 9 points and had 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.

"When I (block a shot), I know it makes teams skeptical to come into the lane," Kimbrough said.

Pucher scored a season-high 17 points.

"He's never taken a game over like that," Grunloh said.

Michael Verwijst, a 6-foot-4 senior, contributed 12 points.

"That's his (typical) game," Grunloh said. "He scores some real effortless points."