Waubonsie Valley humbles Dundee-Crown

Waubonsie Valley boys basketball coach Steve Weemer knew that if his team was going to break a 3-game losing streak Friday night it was going to have to be about defense.

The Warriors held Dundee-Crown to 12 second-half points en route to a 52-35 nonconference victory in Carpentersville.

"We talked about it at halftime. If we had good defensive intensity in the second half, we would have a chance," Weemer said. "The defensive pressure was pretty good."

D-C (15-5) led 23-22 at halfime, but was limited to 5-for-20 shooting and turned the ball over eight tmes in the final 16 minutes.

The Warriors (11-11) took the lead for good less than 2 minutes into the third quarter on a Jelani Johnson bucket. A 3-point play by Roy McElroy with 5:15 left in the third quarter gave Waubonsie a 27-23 lead. Jonny Strauss' long 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining in the quarter increased the Warriors' lead to 37-29 heading into the fourth quarter.

Waubonsie scored the first 6 points of the fourth to put the game out of reach.

"The difference in the game was that they killed us on the glass," Chargers coach Lance Huber said. "Every time we got them to miss a shot they got the rebound."

Johnson led the Warriors with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Strauss finished with 13, including three 3-pointers. McElroy added 11 points and 5 rebounds.

The loss ended the Chargers' 6-game winning streak and came a day after receiving the No. 1 seed in their own regional. The 35 points was a season-low.

"(The loss) shows us we still have work to do," Huber said. "Sometimes we need a wakeup call. Maybe this was it."

Charles Kimbrough had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks for D-C. Jeff Beck had 9 and Marcus Henry added 8 points.