Crystal Lake South hangs on to dump McHenry
After Josh McNaughton's 3-pointer fell short, Crystal Lake South coach Dan DeBruycker could finally breathe a little easier.
In a game that saw 5 lead changes, third-seeded Crystal Lake South was able to hold on to a 45-44 win over second-seeded McHenry in a semifinal game of the Class 4A Crystal Lake South regional Tuesday night at Gator Alley.
The Gators (15-11) will play top-seeded Rockford Jefferson (21-7) in the championship game of the regional Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Jefferson knocked off Huntley 47-43 in the first game Tuesday.
"We are both pretty evenly matched teams," said DeBruycker of his team and McHenry. "We split during the season, but the kids made plays when we had to. We had to switch defenses at the end because their shooters were killing us. We did a good job of extending the defense and we did a good job of defending inside."
McHenry looked to be in good shape when Brian Madson converted a layup off a nice feed from McNaughton with 2:06 left to give the Warriors a 44-40 lead. Those would be the last points McHenry would score.
Ethan Breitenstein, who missed 3 free throws in the last minute, canned a huge 3-pointer with 1:22 left to pull the Gators within a point at 44-43.
South scored the winning basket on a putback by reserve Gavin Rubin with 56 seconds left.
The Gators overcame missed free throws down the stretch and McNaughton's desperation 3 missed at the buzzer to pull out the narrow win.
Breitenstein paced the Gators with 17 points and 4 assists. The junior guard was 4-of-6 from 3-point territory.
"My shot was falling all game," said Breitenstein. "We knew it would be a tough game with McHenry. We did a good job at the defensive end on their shooters and made shots when we had to."
The Gators received a great effort off the bench from Rubin, who had 8 points and 6 rebounds including the game-winning basket.
"He was in the program as a freshman, but took last year off for personal reasons," said DeBruycker of Rubin. "He had some things he had to take care of. He has come back into the program and has played very well and he played a great game tonight."
Madson led McHenry with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Jimmy Preston scored 11 with 8 boards. McNaughton scored 9 points on three 3-pointers for the Warriors.