Dundee-Crown defense stops Power House

Dundee-Crown's defense short circuited a Power House Wednesday.

D-C led by 6 points at halftime, but a hounding defense ignited two game-changing runs that sent the Chargers past Chicago Henry Ford Power House Prep 63-38 in a pool play game at the Leland G. Strombom boys basketball Tournament in Sycamore.

Dundee-Crown (2-0) held the Panthers (0-2) to 15 second-half points on 5-of-25 shooting.

"We guarded well after being, I thought, a little lax (Tuesday) night," Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber said. "But we still have some work to do."

The Chargers took control with a 9-0 run at the start of the second half to go ahead 38-23. Brandon Rodriguez opened the push with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. Dylan Kissack followed with a putback and 2 free throws, and Thomas McNally scored the first of his 5 second-half buckets after making a nice cut. D-C led 44-31 at the end of three quarters.

Power House trimmed the deficit to 45-35 courtesy of 4 straight points by Fred Gelispie, but the Chargers responded with the knockout blow. They scored the next 18 points in a span of 4:28 to blow it open, 63-35.

"We got on a roll there for awhile and I didn't think they were going to stop us," said Kissack, who shot 7 of 11 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers. "We were playing great defense. That's really where our runs start. When we get stops on defense that really helps us out."

Kissack finished with a career-best 21 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.

"He understands the game real well and he works real hard," Huber said. "No one works harder than him. He comes in every day before school and shoots. When that happens, you deserve those kinds of things."

The decisive final spree included 2 baskets by Kissack and 3 by McNally, the latter of whom finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds.

"McNally, I thought, had great energy and effort in the second half and really kind of sparked us to get the second half going the right way," Huber said.

McNally credited good team defense for leading to easy scores.

"We started stopping them on defense and that's really where it all started," McNally said of D-C's 34-point second half. "We were able to get easy buckets in transition, layups."

The Chargers weren't too shabby offensively either. They shot 27 of 46 (58.7 percent).

"Our guys executed well and made the extra pass," Huber said.

Dundee-Crown resumes pool play against Sycamore Friday at 8 p.m.