Dundee-Crown crisp in beating CL South
The Dundee-Crown boys basketball team didn’t take it easy during a 10-day layoff between games.
“We called it our second first week of practice,” D-C senior Kyle Bernhard said. “We worked hard like we worked in the preseason.”
The results were evident in a 67-50 victory over Crystal Lake South in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division game in Carpentersville Tuesday.
Though CL South (4-13, 2-3) outplayed the Chargers in the second quarter, when the Gators parlayed 7 D-C turnovers into a 21-point period, Dundee-Crown (11-6, 4-0) answered with an 8-0 run to start the third quarter, thereby stretching a 2-point halftime lead to 43-33.
“We thought we were in a good spot, but we only scored 6 points in that third quarter and that hurt us,” CL South coach Dan DeBruycker said. “We gave up some easy baskets, let down a little bit. You can’t do that against this team in their place, that’s for sure.”
Junior Brandon Rodriguez (16 points), junior Dylan Kissack (14 points, 7 rebounds) and senior Kyle Bernhard (14 points) each contributed to the 8-0 run, which helped D-C win the third quarter 18-6.
“We came out real well in the first three minutes and pretty much most of the third quarter,” Kissack said. “That was big. It was a nice win coming off a 10-day break. We had some tough practices and worked on some things and I think that helped us overall.”
The Chargers’ shooting touch showed no sign of rust. They shot 59 percent from the field (26 of 44) and 7 of 11 from 3-point range (63.6 percent). Bernhard sank a trio of 3-pointers in 5 attempts.
“When the shot’s falling it’s always nice,” Bernhard said. “Guys were able to look for me and I was able to get the shots off. That’s what I like to do.”
The Chargers won the rebounding battle 29-20 and demonstrated crisp ball movement throughout, led by Rodriguez, who notched 5 assists and 3 steals.
“B-Rod keeps getting better and better,” Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber said. “Sometimes he gets a little excited and tries to make that great pass when the simple pass will do. When he settles down and makes the simple play, he’s a really nice player.”
“Simple passes, great plays,” Rodriguez confirmed. “Simple makes everything, coach says.”
Dundee-Crown jumped to a 13-3 lead and held a 19-12 advantage after a quarter, but the Gators used their height advantage to force multiple turnovers in the second quarter, mostly via an effective half-court trap.
CL South scored 9 field goals in the second quarter, 10 in the other three quarters combined.
“It’s just finding consistency at both ends,” CL South coach Dan DeBruycker said. “I think with the different lineups we have, we have some guys who may struggle defensively but they can put the basketball in the hole.
“Then vice versa. We can play good defense with a certain group of guys but they struggle to put the ball in the hole. It’s a matter of finding the right group of guys to give us consistent minutes.”
Will Ahsmann sank a pair of 3-pointers and led the Gators with 10 points. Nick Geske added 7 points while Xoni Veseli and Brian Frericks each contributed 6 points. The Gators return to action Friday against Jacobs.
Guard Will Stupar had 7 points and 3 rebounds and 6-foot-7 senior Brandon Gordon added 6 points and 5 rebounds for Dundee-Crown, which next plays at Cary-Grove Friday.