Dundee-Crown clinches share of FVC Valley title
Trailing 34-25 at Cary-Grove with three minutes left in the third quarter, the Dundee-Crown boys basketball players were all thinking the same thing, according to guard Rob Stupar.
"Are we going to lose it like this?" Stupar said. "Is this how we're going to go out? We've come all this way and we're going to lose it right here? We just had to buckle down and start playing."
The Chargers upped their defensive intensity late in the third quarter and effectively shut down the Trojans' offense to earn a 48-46 come-from-behind victory.
The win improved Dundee-Crown to 18-5 overall, 9-0 in the Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference, and gave the school at least a share of the Valley title.
The title is D-C 's second in four seasons under coach Lance Huber and the fourth overall as Dundee-Crown High School. Crown High School won FVC titles in 1978-79 and 1980-81. Dundee High won the FVC in 1979-80.
The Chargers can complete their first undefeated conference title since the 1994-95 season with a victory over second-place Jacobs (23-2, 8-1) in the regular-season finale on Friday at 7 p.m. Jacobs remained a game back Tuesday with a 60-55 victory at Crystal Lake South.
The Chargers didn't so much celebrate their victory on Tuesday as they exhaled in relief. The celebration was also muted because a share of the Valley title is not D-C's ultimate goal.
"We're happy to have the share, but it's not over yet," said senior guard Jeff Beck, who led the Chargers with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals. "We still have to win one more game to make us happy. We're not going to be happy with just this win. We want to win again."
Stupar ignited the offense with a pair of 3-pointers late in the third quarter and Beck pulled the Chargers within 40-35 with a buzzer-beating baseline jumper that opened an 11-0 run
Dundee-Crown put on a defensive exhibition in the fourth quarter, forcing the Trojans into turnovers on 6 of their first 8 possessions.
"It was their half-court denial of guard-to-guard passes," Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle said. "They just wouldn't let us reverse it and Beck was cheating, trying to make the guard-to-guard pass look open and then he'd take it away."
Beck tied the game at 40 with 2 free throws at the 3:08 mark. After a Beck steal, Marcus Henry gave the Chargers their first lead since the first quarter with a short jumper in traffic with 2:20 remaining.
Aaron Reams scored in transition off a steal and added 2 free throws with 1:12 to play to expand the lead to 46-40.
Cary-Grove (14-12, 3-6) took only 3 shots in the fourth quarter and didn't make a field goal until Chris Swenson knocked down a 3-pointer with 58 seconds left. D-C led 48-43 when Cary-Grove's Matt Jones banked home a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left.