Kimbrough's slams energize Chargers
In high school basketball, nothing is more energizing than a dunk.
Just to make sure Dundee-Crown stayed lively during the second half, center Charles Kimbrough slammed it down twice, including a one-handed monster. The motivation resulted in the Chargers scoring 49 points in the second half and running past Woodstock 85-60 in the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division opener for both teams Wednesday night in Carpentersville.
"Every time I dunk it, it hypes our team, it gets us going, " said Kimbrough, who took passes from Aaron Reams on both dunks.
Dundee-Crown (10-4, 1-0) just kept going. The Chargers shot 64.5 percent (20 of 31) in the second half, including going 17 of 21 during a stretch after Kimbrough, who finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocks, scored off an offensive rebound. The senior went a perfect 10-of-10 in the game, as the Chargers finished 60 percent (36-of-60) as a team.
The shooting run allowed the Chargers to turn a 36-30 halftime lead into a 73-53 advantage with 5:22 left in the fourth quarter.
"We converted our layups early in the second half," Chargers coach Lance Huber said. "(Kimbrough's dunks) were a big emotional lift for us."
The emotion carried to the defense in the second half, especially for Kimbrough.
Woodstock (3-11, 0-1) stayed close early thanks in large part to 10 first-quarter points from Casey Sewall (20 points, 9 rebounds). The senior shot 5-of-9 from the floor in the first quarter, but was limited to 3-of-10 in the next 3 quarters. Woodstock was just 35.8 percent (24-of-67) in the game.
"Charles played a lot better defense limiting (Sewall) in the second half," Huber said. "We made a few adjustments and Charles did a nice job responding to that."
The energy might have been most evident on the boards. Dundee-Crown outrebounded Woodstock 41-23 in the game. Guard Jeff Beck (12 points, 6 assists) led all players with 13 rebounds, including 3 on the offensive glass. The Chargers were able to score 18 second-chance points in the game, with Kimbrough scoring off all 4 of his offensive rebounds and Marcus Henry (13 points, 6 rebounds) converting back-to-back offensive rebounds in the second half.
"We tried to get every offensive rebound and keep them off the glass," Kimbrough said. "We tried to go to the glass and get every possible rebound."
Reams added 9 points, 5 assists and 2 blocks in the victory, but the Chargers also got a huge boost from their bench. Greg McNally scored 11 points and Robert Stupar added 9. Stupar scored all of his points off three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.