Streamwood runs away with Cary-Grove
Neither team expected this kind of one-sided result.
No. 2 seed Cary-Grove, the champion of the Fox Valley Conference's Valley Division, opened Wednesday's Class 4A Barrington regional semifinal against No. 3 Streamwood on a 7-0 run, thanks to a drive from senior Chad McCarron followed by a pair of baskets by junior guard Jon Guay.
And that about does it for the Trojans' highlight reel.
After a timeout taken by Streamwood coach Tim Jones, the Sabres exploded like a short-fused firecracker engulfed in a five-alarm fire. They outscored Cary-Grove 17-4 to close the first quarter and turned the heat up in the second quarter by besting the Trojans 19-4 to take a 36-17 halftime lead en route to a 71-44 victory.
Junior point guard Jerrold Ofiana led Streamwood with 16 points, senior Marcus Lewis scored 12 points and made 3 steals, sophomore Lorenzo Mitchell contributed 11 points and 8 rebounds and senior Derrick King finished with 10 points and 6 boards. Seven Sabres posted at least 5 points."As a team, it was probably one of our better games of the year because everybody contributed," Jones said. "That's what you've got to have. At this time of year, that's what you need."
Streamwood (9-17) advances to face top seed Barrington (16-12) for the regional title on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Injury depleted Cary-Grove (14-13) was down to its third point guard in a month after backup Matt Jones sprained his ankle on Friday and was able to play only sparingly. The Sabres took no mercy, however. They shot 31 of 48 from the field (65 percent) and used their height and size advantage in the frontcourt to limit Cary-Grove to 26-percent efficiency (11 of 43).
"They shot the ball really well," McCarron said. "They are more athletic than us and they played very well. Their shots were falling. We tried to go zone to get rebounds, but they hit threes and contested all our layups. Nothing came easy for us.
"Coming into this game we thought it could go either way, but they took it to us. It was kind of tough to go down with a loss like that."
Streamwood, which played a brutal nonconference schedule this season in addition to its rigorous Upstate Eight Conference slate, limited its turnovers to 11, below its season average of 14. The Sabres outrebounded the Trojans 30-23 and demonstrated good ball movement offensively throughout. Defensively, they blocked 5 shots and made life difficult whenever Cary-Grove ventured into the lane.
"Coach was behind all of this," Ofiana said. "He made us work in practice and told us we had a chance to make up for our (regular) season record. We didn't want to go out 0-1 in the playoffs."
Neither did Cary-Grove, but the Sabres had too many weapons for the Trojans to counter.
"My biggest concern was trying to neutralize their athleticism in the frontcourt," Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle said. "I felt if they blocked some of our shots, it would lead to fast breaks. They blocked a few and got going. Their guard (Ofiana) was way quicker than he was on tape. With that front line and the point guard stuffing some threes early, they were just too big and strong. How they are a 9-win team is kind of baffling, but they're pretty good."
Senior Ryan Barker scored 12 points for Cary-Grove.