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Dundee-Crown rolls in opener

Dundee-Crown's season-opening 63-33 victory over Gary Comer Prep at the Sycamore Strombom Tournament Wednesday caused Chargers coach Lance Huber to dip deep into his vocabulary grab bag.

“It was an emollient victory,” said a smiling Huber, purposely using a vocabulary word his players learned in school this week. “It was a brilliantly radiant victory.”

D-C forward Jamel Kimbrough radiated plenty of brilliance all by himself. The 6-foot-4 senior led the Chargers with 12 points, most of them the result of his 8 rebounds, including 7 offensive boards in the first half when it was still a contest.

“You've always got to rebound,” Kimbrough said. “Most importantly, the team needs to rebound, too. I'm always going to go to the glass. I'm trying to get my teammates to recognize that if they come to the glass too we'll be more effective overall.

Kimbrough got his wish as the Chargers outrebounded Gary Comer Prep, one of the five Noble Street Charter Schools from Chicago, by a 39-29 margin.

Just as impressive? When Kimbrough was fouled in the paint he made the Catamounts pay by draining 10 of 12 free-throw attempts.

“He was all over it,” Huber said. “Twelve free-throw attempts, that was big. He didn't always hit from the line last year, but he was fantastic on the glass, and that really carried us early.

“I'm happy for him. He put in a lot of work and has had a lot of tough situations. Hopefully, we can keep him going.”

Dundee-Crown (1-0) led 14-9 after a quarter and 34-18 at the half. Senior Ryan Smith helped the Chargers blow the game open by scoring 7 of his 9 points early in the third quarter. His 3-pointer from the top of the arc capped a 13-3 run that put D-C ahead 42-21.

In all, 13 Chargers cracked the scoring column and 14 pulled down at least one rebound.

“I think this is a positive step from last year,” Smith said of winning the season opener. “We just wanted to come out and get a win under our belts right away. “Obviously, we're not playing to the best of our ability yet, but you have to start somewhere. We just want to make positive strides and find our identity because this is a different-look Chargers team.”

Dundee-Crown advances to Friday's 7:30 p.m. semifinal against Burlington Central (1-0), which dumped host Sycamore 59-42.

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