D-C's pressure sparks 2nd-half reversal
Underdog Crystal Lake Central trapped and zoned and dictated the tempo for a half. Then Dundee-Crown stopped taking dictation.
After the Tigers lulled the Chargers into a 15-12 deficit at halftime of Friday's Fox Valley Conference boys basketball crossover in Carpentersville, D-C implemented a full-court press in the second half to ignite its offense for a 52-37 victory.
Dundee-Crown (9-3) pressured CL Central (3-12) into 13 second-half turnovers, many of which were converted into fastbreak points.
"We had to change the tempo and make it go our way," said D-C senior Marcus Henry, who finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. "That was the difference in the ballgame. In the first half we were too slow. I think we were thinking too much against their press. I guess you could say we countered with our own trap."
Any semblance of offensive rhythm eluded the Chargers in the first half, when they turned the ball over 9 times and missed multiple close-range shots to finish 5 of 22 from the field. CL Central added to the frustration by holding the ball for over a minute on three possessions.
"We just were't playing our game, not playing together as a team like we usually do," said senior Aaron Reams, who had 9 rebounds, 6 points and 3 steals.
The game's sluggish pace was a topic in D-C's locker room at the half.
"It was stressed heavily at halftime, how's that?" D-C coach Lance Huber said.
"Coach pretty much chewed us out," admitted center Charles Kimbrough. "We got our heads back in the game and came out and played."
Kimbrough played a key role after the intermission in helping D-C post back-to-back, 20-point quarters. The 6-foot-6 center scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half to tie teammate Jeff Beck for the team high in points.
Kimbrough's low-post move through a CL Central triple team gave the Chargers a 22-20 lead early in the third quarter, and his old-fashioned three-point play along the baseline put D-C ahead 30-24 with 1:31 left in the third quarter. Kimbrough's high-percentage looks at the basket combined with breakouts off turnovers helped the Chargers' shooting percentage leap in the second half to 65 percent (15 of 23).
The Chargers led by 6 points before opening the fourth quarter on a 17-5 run to put the game out of reach, a run fueled by three 3-pointers from reserve guard Rob Stupar (9 points).
D-C won the battle of the boards 31-14 to earn plenty of second-chance shot attempts, but it was Central's 19 turnovers in the game that did them in, according to their coach.
"They did a nice job with the press, but it was our ball skills that let us down in the second half," CL Central coach Rich Czeslawski said. "We have such a hard time scoring, and we knew they would pressure us in the second half. We just didn't take care of the ball."
Connor Buxton led CL Central with 15 points.