Taking turns at starring roles proves to be winning formula for D-C
Playing the Dundee-Crown boys basketball team is like trying to plug holes in a leaking dam: an opponent can fill one crack, but another fissure soon erupts and leaves the plan all wet.
McHenry thought it had one hole filled in Wednesday's Class 4A Elgin sectional semifinal, when coach Tim Paddock assigned 6-foot-3 sophomore Jimmy Preston to guard D-C leading scorer Jeff Beck. The idea worked decently as Beck was held to 7 points, 10 below his average.
But like they have done so many times this season, the Chargers demonstrated their versatility by finding others to carry the load. Senior guard Marcus Henry scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, 3-point shooter Rob Stupar sank 3 shots from long range and scored 11 points and center Charles Kimbrough added 8 points, including 2 second-quarter dunks. It all added up to a 48-37 victory for Dundee-Crown over McHenry.
"Sometimes it's just not my turn to shoot," Beck said. "Sometimes I'm better off distributing the ball for other guys. Marcus had a great game tonight, Rob did a great job shooting. When other guys are hot like that you have to do what's right for the team."
D-C coach Lance Huber has stuck with an eight-man rotation of seniors all season. The starting lineup consists of Beck, Henry, Kimbrough, rangy rebounding guard Aaron Reams and shooting guard Justin Strzelczyk.
Stupar, guard Greg McNally and forward Colin McCarthy come off the bench. All contributed to the win Wednesday, some more noticeably than others.
"If they stop one of our guys, another guy will set off," Kimbrough said. "It's hard to stop a team like us because we don't have one guy. We have eight guys who step up and play and go hard no matter what. When we need a big play somebody will step up and give us the stop that we need or the bucket that we need."
It's a cohesive group on the floor, a reflection of how tightly-knit this team is away from the court.
"This is probably one of the better teams as far as hanging out and getting along and doing things together," Huber said. "The group a couple of years ago was like that, too, but this is an especially fun group to be around."
That group from two years ago included Beck, who was then a sophomore playing in a reserve role. Those Chargers upset Jacobs in a regional final and advanced to play Buffalo Grove in a sectional semifinal before getting knocked out.
The 2008-09 Chargers (22-5) have surpassed the achievements of the 2007 team. Now they have a chance to become the first sectional title team in the program's history, when they face St. Charles North (22-8) for the championship on Friday at 7:30 p.m. It will mark the second time the Chargers have played for a sectional title under Huber. They lost to Prairie Ridge in 2004, in a game also played at Elgin's Chesbrough Field House.
"I'm really excited for our guys because they've been awesome," Huber said. "They've worked really hard, they've made a ton of sacrifices during the year, over the summer, for the past couple of years. It's about them - All the weight room sessions, the work over the summer, all the long bus trips, all the practices on Saturdays.
"Right now it's all worth it."