Crystal Lake South has just enough to turn back Cary-Grove

Solid defense, just enough offense and clutch free throw shooting.

Those ingredients mixed together keyed a 52-38 Crystal Lake South victory over Cary-Grove in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball contest held at South's Gator Alley Friday night.

"I thought our zone defense was very aggressive and we didn't let them get many good looks," said South coach Dan DeBruycker. "We were able to make adjustments as the game went on and we forced them to shoot a lot of 3s. Offensively, we were inconsistent. We made some key offensive mistakes and we didn't play well in situations. We needed to be more patient."

The Gators' active defense held Cary-Grove to only 15 field goals in 50 attempts for 30 percent. The Trojans (7-10, 1-1), who committed 18 turnovers, made only 5-of-25 shots from 3-point range for 20 percent.

"They (the Gators) are 6-6, 6-5 and 6-4 along the baseline and they all have long arms," said Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle. "It is tough to get inside. We knew our guards would have to shoot well from outside and they didn't. We hung, hung, hung in there and got to within 11 but couldn't get over the hump."

South (9-6, 2-0), which led 21-13 at halftime, seized control of the game early in the third quarter.

Three-pointers by Alex Macaulay and Kevin Rogers and a layup by Ryan Price propelled the Gators to an 8-0 run to start the second half which gave them a 29-13 lead with 5:50 left in the third quarter.

Cary-Grove's first points of the second half came on a 15-footer by Jon Guay with 4:46 left in the third quarter to make the score 29-15.

The closest the Trojans would get was 8, 37-29, on a 3-pointer by Nick Richter with 3:22 left.

The Gators sealed the win by making 12-of-14 free throws in the final 2 minutes. Ethan Breitenstein made 5-of-5 from the line while Macaulay converted 4-of-4 from the stripe.

Macaulay paced the Gators with 13 points.

"Our defense was effective tonight," said Macaulay. "We contested every shot and we did a good job of switching defenses and we trapped when we could. We don't have one go-to-guy, but we have a lot of guys who can score."

Rogers and Breitenstein scored 11 apiece for the Gators.

Richter paced the Trojans with 13 points and 7 assists while Chad McCarron scored 12.