Dundee-Crown handles Burlington Central in opener
The days of the one-man wrecking crew are over for the Dundee-Crown boys basketball program.
For the past two seasons the Chargers relied on Ryan Smith to do the bulk of the scoring, and Jeff Beck scored the lion’s share of points three seasons ago, when the Chargers advanced to the Final Four in Class 4A.
Dundee-Crown demonstrated score book socialism in Tuesday’s 64-50 victory over Burlington Central at the Sycamore Thanksgiving Tournament. Brandon Rodriguez scored a game-high 15 points, Kyle Bernhard finished with 14, Dylan Kissack had 12 and Will Stupar added 9 for the balanced Chargers in the season opener for both teams.
Dundee-Crown used a 10-0 run bridging the first and second quarters to erase a 12-10 deficit. D-C led by 10 points at the half, 50-36 through three quarters and led by as many as 15 points in the final period.
“Having four guys almost in double figures is a nice change,” Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber said. “And we did it in a lot of different ways. Kissack with some putbacks, Bernhard with some threes, Brandon Rodriguez getting points in transition, off defense and cuts.”
Burlington Central is an athletic, junior-heavy team. The Rockets started the only three seniors on their roster and 14 players saw minutes, including two sophomores, as coach Brett Porto searched in vain for the right combination to counteract the Chargers.
“I think we flat-out played scared,” Porto said. “We played scared and we couldn’t really get anything going on either end because we were a little intimidated. That led into toughness issues with rebounding and loose balls.
“Our kids are a lot better than they showed today. We’re going to have to be willing to do the little things and play with no fear to get better.”
Rodriguez was the catalyst in several situations for the Chargers. His 5 steals contributed to Burlington Central’s 27 turnovers. The Chargers committed 23 flubs of their own and sank only 8 of 23 free throws, but they offset their inefficient ballhandling and free-throw woes with good defense. D-C held Central to 32-percent shooting (19 of 59).
“We did pretty well,” Rodriguez said. “We had some bad moments here and there, but we finished strong.”
D-C opened its biggest lead of the night, 55-40, when Bernhard hit his fourth 3-pointer in 10 attempts with 5:37 left in the game.
“When you get those opportunities you have to capitalize,” Bernhard said. “Any player would have don the same thing. I’m just glad we have so many guys in double figures. That’s how we want it to be this year.”
Central made a last-ditch attempt to close the gap. The Rockets scored 7 straight points on a 3-pointer from Bryce Warner, Ryan Ritchie’s drive and Ray Hunnicutt’s 2 free throws.
Dundee-Crown answered on a layup by Rodriguez, courtesy of a pretty feed from sophomore guard Cordero Parson. Bernhard then scored a gimme layup on a long outlet pass from Kissack, which put D-C ahead 59-47 with 3:02 left.
“I thought we played pretty great as a team,” Kissack said. “We practiced hard and it carried over to the game. It’s good to get a win.”
The Chargers will go for another victory against Chicago Powerhouse today at 5 p.m.
Burlington Central vies for its first win against host Sycamore today at 8 p.m. Porto expects a more determined in Game 2.
“My team is better than that,” Porto said. “I was really shocked with what went on out there, but it was the first game. We have to come back in less than 24 hours and we have to do things a heck of a lot better.”
Ritchie had 14 points and Hunnicutt finished with 13 to place the Rockets.