Deerfield's Dukan does in Mundelein

There was a big crowd.

And some big plays.

And a big finish.

It was all part of a big production centered around a couple of future Big Ten-ers.

Iowa-bound Ben Brust of Mundelein and Wisconsin-bound Duje Dukan of Deerfield came up, well, big for their respective teams on Saturday night.

But it was Dukan who got a slightly bigger lift from his teammates in Deerfield's frenetic 80-73 victory over the host Mustangs.

There were six lead-changes and four ties over the final six minutes of the game, but Deerfield was able to pull away thanks in large part to Dukan's steady hand at the line.

The 6-foot-8 senior forward scored 17 of his game- and career-high 34 points, which included a 10-of-10 effort from the line, in the fourth quarter.

The victory moves Deerfield, which is suddenly considered a serious contender for Lake County's 4A sectional championship just one year after finishing 12-15, to an impressive 16-1. Coach Bret Just believes his team might be off to the best start in school history, having lost only to Waukegan.

Meanwhile, Mundelein, which got a team-high 24 points on three 3-pointers from Brust, drops to 15-9.

"It was a lot of fun (going up against Brust), looking to those future head-to-heads (in college)," said Dukan, a versatile guard/forward/center combo who connected on three 3-pointers but also pulled down 16 rebounds and rolled up 2 blocks. "It was good to see what he's got and for him to see what I've got."

Brust saw Dukan making a living at the line down the stretch. Dukan turned a 61-59 deficit for the Warriors into 69-66 with 11 straight points, six of which came on free throws.

"Fourth quarter, you live for it," said Dukan, the son of Chicago Bulls scout Ivica Dukan, whose connections helped bring Toni Kukoc to the Windy City. "I just love pressure situations. I wanted the ball in my hands and I just happened to make the free throws."

Instead of settling for jumpers, which they did at times earlier in the game, Dukan and his teammates became much more aggressive in getting to the basket and managed to draw Mundelein into a lot of fouls.

"Duje was a tough guard for us because he's so long, and he can play outside and in," Brust said. "He kind of shocked me. When we played in the spring with AAU, he was a spot-up guy, spotting up shooting threes. I watched tape before this game and I was really impressed that he's more mobile now and he can get inside and outside.

"When he's not driving, they're lobbing it into him and tonight our help side defense was a little late sometimes. We had to work hard to try to get the ball away from him and he got it a lot against us."

So did Deerfield forward Oren Schwartz, who dropped 17 points on Mundelein.

The Mustangs had their own big scorers. Besides Brust, junior forward Ryan Sawvell pumped in 19 points while freshman sensation Robert Knar kept the Mustangs in the game in the second half by scoring all 16 of his points after the break.

Knar lit up Deerfield for four 3-pointers, including a bomb in the final minute that cut a seven-point deficit to 75-71.

"It was possessions down the stretch," Mundelein coach Dick Knar said of the difference in the game. "When we cut it to four points (75-71), there was plenty of time left, but we came down and launched some ridiculous shots and then they went back down and scored. From then on, it just seemed like we couldn't make any more stops.

"We're not executing down the stretch. This is our ninth loss, of which seven were right down to the wire. We're just not finishing plays."