Dundee-Crown maintains Valley lead
Dundee-Crown's potential blowout didn't materialize. A Crystal Lake South comeback saw to that, but the Chargers held on for a 49-40 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball victory in Carpentersville Saturday night.
Jeff Beck had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists for the Chargers (16-5, 7-0), who saw a 17-point halftime lead whittled to 6 with 90 seconds left.
Steven Rogers and Eric Wilde led the Gator comeback. Wilde's putback with 1:28 to play completed a 19-4 Gator run and made it 46-40, but that was as close as the visitors got. South missed its final 6 shots, and Aaron Reams made 3 free throws down the stretch to keep the Chargers safely in front.
"They really took us out of what we wanted to do in the second half," said D-C coach Lance Huber, whose team bounced back from a 17-point loss to Waubonsie Valley on Friday night.
"I think that shows a lot of character about their team. I was pleased that we were able to pull it out."
Marcus Henry added 10 points, and Reams scored all 9 of his points in the second half for D-C. Charles Kimbrough added 7 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 4 points on a pair of dunks.
Wilde finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds, while Rogers added 13 points for the Gators.
"In the second half, they started switching the screens on defense," said Beck. "That was something we hadn't worked on with them, but that definitely made it harder to score in the second half."
Trailing 8-6, the Chargers closed the first half with a 23-4 run. Beck scored the final 7 points of the first quarter. He converted a traditional 3-point play to put D-C ahead 9-8, then made 2 steals that he converted into breakaway layups. The Chargers then outscored South 16-4 in the second quarter.
But Wilde and Rogers refused to let the Gators go down without a fight. Rogers scored 9 points in the third quarter to keep the Gators in striking distance.
The Gators shot just 27 percent (13-for-49) from the field for the game.
"The effort was good, but we just need to shoot better if we're going to beat a team like this on the road," said South coach Dan DeBruycker.