Cary-Grove stops Dundee-Crown
A lot of coaches state that the first few minutes of the third quarter are crucial to victory.
Cary-Grove certainly adhered to that philosophy Tuesday night.
Trailing Dundee-Crown 21-17 at halftime, the Trojans scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and cruised to a 50-38 win over D-C in the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division opener for both teams in Cary.
“We really turned up the intensity defensively and came out with great energy to start the second half and got easy baskets,” said Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schueltze. “We are long and did a good job of extending the defense. You have to win your home games to win the conference. It was a great way to start the conference race.”
The Trojans (7-9, 1-0), the defending FVC Valley Division champs, knotted the score at 21 with only 22 seconds elapsed on a 4-point play from Nick Richter. Richter, who drilled a 3-pointer, was fouled on the play. The Cary-Grove senior guard sank the free throw to tie the score.
The Trojans scored the next 6 points on 3 layup baskets off 3 D-C turnovers. Matt Aulert converted 2 baskets and Jon Guay had a layup off a steal as the Trojans led 27-21 with 4:39 left in the third quarter.
D-C (7-5, 0-1) finally got on the scoreboard in the second half on 2 free throws by Ryan Smith with 3:22 left in the quarter to pull the Chargers within 4, 27-23. That was as close as D-C would get.
The Trojans' biggest lead of the game was 13, 44-31, after a putback by Alex Posey with 2:12 remaining in the game.
Cary-Grove scored the final 6 points of the game on free throws. Guay made 4-of-4 from the line while Eric Graham made both of his free throws as the Trojans iced a 12-point win.
Richter led Cary-Grove with 20 points while Aulert scored 12 with 9 rebounds.
“We made the adjustments at halftime and really came out with a lot of intensity in the third quarter,” said Aulert. “We got easy shots and really hit the offensive boards. “
Smith and Jamal Kimbrough scored 12 points each for the Chargers.
“Our turnovers were key,” said Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber. “They were scoring with no defense on them. We made it easy for them to score and they got easy baskets.”