Cary-Grove tops McHenry, grabs control of Valley
Facing a hostile environment and losing starting point guard Nick Richter to an ankle injury late in the second quarter, the odds appeared against Cary-Grove.
The Trojans defied the odds.
After spotting McHenry the first 7 points of the game, Cary-Grove outscored the Warriors 33-18 in the second half to post a crucial 61-47 win in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball action Friday night in McHenry.
The win gave Cary-Grove (13-10 overall) sole possession of first place in the FVC Valley at 7-1.
"We got caught up in the crowd early in the game and played out of control," said Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle. "We slowed it down offensively and our defensive transition defense was much better. We really stepped it up defensively in the second half. This was a fun win."
Trailing McHenry 29-28 at halftime, the Trojans seized control of the game in the third quarter.
Cary-Grove grabbed its first lead of the game when Chad McCarron buried a 3-pointer from the left corner to give the Trojans a 31-29 advantage early in the third quarter. Cary-Grove never looked back.
Holding a slim 38-37 lead, the Trojans ended the third quarter on a 8-1 run. A putback by McCarron at the buzzer, gave Cary-Grove a 46-38 lead after three quarters. The Trojans' aggressive defense held McHenry to only 4 field goals in the quarter while outscoring the Warriors 18-9.
Cary-Grove's biggest lead was 17, 60-43, after a putback by McCarron with 1:36 left.
McCarron led the Trojans with 23 points and 15 rebounds.
"We had a lot of players pick up the slack when Nick went down," said McCarron. "He is our second leading scorer so it was a big loss but we played as a team. I thought we were in good shape at half being down only 1. It seemed like we should have been down 10. We put more pressure on them defensively in the second half and got steals. We are in great shape in the conference. We just need to take care of business against Jacobs and Huntley."
Ryan Barker added 14 with a pair of 3-pointers and 7 boards for the winners.
"We stayed calm early in the game when the crowd was going crazy,"said Barker. "We came together as a team and we are playing our best basketball of the season right now."
Matt Jones added 9 for the Trojans while Alex Posey scored 8, 6 in the fourth quarter.
Brian Madson led McHenry with 13 while Josh McNaughton and Jimmy Preston scored 11 apiece.