Dundee-Crown comes up just short
Dundee-Crown simply ran out of time.
D-C, which trailed Rockford Guilford by 14 points late in the third quarter, got to within a point of the Vikings, but couldn't get over the hump.
The result was a 56-53 victory for Guilford in a nonconference boys basketball game in Carpentersville Saturday night.
"I am not into moral victories, but we took a step forward tonight," said Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber. "We ran our stuff in the fourth quarter and executed very well. We gave ourselves a chance to win. That's all you can ask. We need to build on this effort and continue to progress."
A layup by Timmy Hill gave the Vikings (5-8) a 14-point, 44-30 lead with a minute left in the third quarter. The resilient Chargers (1-10) refused to quit.
D-C scored the final 4 points of the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Sean Bernhard and a free throw by Ryan Smith. Guilford led 44-34 after 24 minutes of play.
The Chargers completed a 6-0 run on a layup by Thomas McNally to start the fourth quarter, which pulled D-C within 8, 44-36, with 7:02 remaining.
The Vikings broke the scoreless drought when Hill canned a 3-pointer with 6:44 left to take a 11-point 47-36 lead. The Chargers kept battling and got to within a point at 54-53 when Bernhard made all 3 free throws with 4.7 seconds left in the game.
Brandon Blankenship canned a pair of free throws with 1 tick left to preserve the win for Guilford.
Smith's desperation 50-footer was well short and the Chargers fell 3-points short.
"We played well both offensively and defensively in the first half," said Guilford coach Ed Jones. "In the second half, we became impatient and rushed things offensively. Our shot selection was horrible in the second half and on defense we started reaching. We gave them a lot of easy shots. But, hats off to Dundee-Crown they played an excellent fourth quarter and wore us down."
Quavion Kimble led Guilford with 15 points and 8 rebounds. Hill scored 13 and Blankenship tallied 11.
Bernhard led the Chargers with 14 points, 7 in the fourth quarter. Kevin Cronin scored 11 and Nathan Kirchoff had 10 before fouling out with 1:49 left in the game