Dundee-Crown falls to Chicago Hope

Dundee-Crown knows it will not win any wars of rebounding by sheer size alone.

The undersized Chargers need to box out on defense in order to be able to grab rebounds, something that they did not do against Chicago Hope on Saturday.

Hope (2-1) held a 39-18 advantage on the glass and used its advantage to take a 55-47 victory in the consolation championship game of the Leland G. Strombom Boys Basketball Tournament at Sycamore.

"Our game plan coming in was boxing out," D-C center Ryan Smith said. "That was going to be the key to the game against a team like that. You have to keep them off the glass."

No one was stopping Hope sophomore Torrance Johnson from grabbing anything he wanted to. The center scooped up 17 rebounds, including 7 offensive, to go along with 18 points. Eagles forward Willie Conner finished with 13 rebounds and 16 points. Dundee-Crown (1-2) was outrebounded 21-5 in the first half and trailed 26-17 after 2 quarters.

"They really took it to us on the second chance points," Chargers' coach Lance Huber said. "When you're undersized and they are more athletic you have to be more fundamental."

Dundee-Crown allowed 8 second-chance points in the third quarter as Hope extended its lead to 45-29 going into the fourth quarter. The Chargers did, however, close the rebounding margin in the second half with Hope holding a slight 18-13 advantage.

Smith finished with 4 of his team-high 6 rebounds in the second half and also emerged as the offensive star for the Chargers.

The junior led all players with 22 points and shot 5 of 8 from the floor in the game. Dundee-Crown finished the game shooting 28.5 percent (12 of 42). Smith also went 11 of 12 from the free-throw line and sank 6 of 6 in the fourth quarter. Hope was 11 of 19 from the foul line.

Kyle Bernhard added 13 points for the Chargers.