Dundee-Crown can't contain Johnsburg

If opposites do attract, Johnsburg and Dundee-Crown were the perfect teams to do so. And Johnsburg made sure that it was the better attraction.

Undefeated coming into Dundee-Crown Saturday night, Johnsburg used a balanced team effort offensively with a 15-2 first quarter run and hot shooting first and third quarters to stay that way and give Dundee-Crown its 12th consecutive loss in a 50-35 Fox Valley Conference boys basketball crossover win in Carpentersville Saturday night.

And while it was like the Beatles were on the scene with Skyhawk center CJ Fiedorowicz' star power making Chargers fans the optimists with the photos and autographs after the game, his quiet 9 points wasn't the main story, it was his teammates getting involved at the right time on a night where it wasn't all on him to make things possible.

"This weekend I signed 1,000 autographs, so it's cool," said the Iowa-bound Fiedorowicz. "They must have watched the Army game."

"When you have a guy like CJ, it'd be easy for our guys to sit back and do all the work, and they don't do that," said Skyhawks coach Luke Ravlin. "We're real proud of how they've come together as a team, and proud of them for being so unselfish, we always want to have that balance if we can."

Three Skyhawks (14-0) scored in double figures and by making seven of their first 10 shots they led by as many as 14 in the first half. Derek Talbot's left corner 3-pointer with 2:30 left capped a 13-0 first quarter run, and his bucket off an inbounds pass underneath the basket put Johnsburg ahead 22-8 with 3:05 left in the first half.

Dundee-Crown (1-13) got to within 11 on Kevin Cronin's 3-pointer at half's end, but Johnsburg came out firing in the third. Fiedorowicz' bucket off the glass inside with 6:51 left and Mike Dixon's 3-pointer with 5:04 left in the third gave Johnsburg a 39-23 lead. It began a 13-5 Skyhawk run, which Dixon capped on a jumper from the top of the key, pushing the lead to 37-18 with 3:01 left.

Dixon scored 6 of his 10 points and Talbot added 5 of his 12 points in that stretch. Tyler Chambers was the other Skyhawk to score double figures with 10. Johnsburg shot 47 percent from the field and in the first and third quarters, combining to hit 12 of 19 shots.

"Those one or two possessions where we need those points, we got tonight, " said Dixon, who added 9 assists. "That's what carries on, and that's when they fall, and that's where we take over."

While Dundee-Crown shot just 32 percent and was out-rebounded 27-23, the carry over from a 29-27 loss to McHenry on Friday played a major factor.

"I thought we probably played our best game of the year last night, and we lost," Chargers coach Lance Huber said. "I think it's a natural habit, to do something really well, it's hard to sustain that kind of intensity."

Ryan Smith led the Chargers with 10 points and 9 rebounds.