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Guazzo's rebounding sparks Huntley victory over Dundee-Crown

Huntley forward Adam Guazzo had snatched, grabbed and wrestled away 13 rebounds in the first three quarters against Dundee-Crown Tuesday night.

The Chargers, as a team, had eight at that point.

"That doesn't shock me," D-C coach Lance Huber said. "He was an animal on the glass tonight. He was a man amongst boys on the glass, he just controlled the game."

Guazzo finished with 16 rebounds, the margin by which the Raiders outboarded D-C in their 53-34 Fox Valley Conference boys basketball victory.

Sometimes Guazzo's main competition came from his teammate Noah Only, who hauled in eight rebounds himself.

"It's definitely in our game plan every game," said Guazzo, who has Huntley's single-season rebounding record at 278 and counting. "If we win the rebounding battle we end up winning the game. It's something we emphasize a lot.

"I just go in and follow the ball. A little bit of a knack. I just want to go in every time and the ball is mine. I'm getting it, that's my mindset."

Only, a junior, likes making that a competition with Guazzo.

"It is just fun competing," Only said. "Who can get the most rebounds? He's got the school record and me only being a junior, that could be my record next year, you never know."

D-C (18-9, 11-6 FVC) ended the first quarter with an 11-9 lead after Kali Freeman, who was fouled as time expired, made two free throws by himself on the court.

Guazzo opened the second quarter with a rebound basket, Only hit his second 3-pointer, then Guazzo scored on another putback and Huntley (26-4, 15-2) built a 10-point lead.

D-C cut it to 28-21 at halftime, ending the second quarter with Zach Ryza making a pair of free throws again by himself in the court.

But Ben Ahmer and Nate Ary each hit a 3 early in the third and the Raiders pulled away. Ahmer's 3 gave him the single-season school record at 80.

Huntley finished with a 35-19 rebounding edge. D-C was playing without 6-foot-3 Kennon Cook, who is out with a left foot injury, and who, along with Guazzo, averages more than 10 boards per game.

"(Guazzo) does it every single day in practice too, it's not just a game thing," Raiders coach Will Benson said. "He has a knack for it. He goes for so many, by happenstance you're going to get some. His hands are tremendous. He's a big part of our team."

Ary led Huntley with 12 points, Ahmer and Aiden Wieczorek scored 10 each and Only had nine with three 3s.

"We wanted to get out to a good start, get a good lead," Only said. "If you get a good lead, the rest of the game goes smooth for us. We had our ups and downs toward the end of the first quarter, but in the second quarter we picked it up and in the second half we just took off."

Hunter Guyon led D-C with nine points, while Zach Randl and Jason Huber scored six each.

"We got it to seven at halftime and they had an 8-0 run to start the half," Lance Huber said. "Guazzo just controlled the game. We didn't have an answer for him with anybody we put on him."

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