Kimbrough's FTs, block seal it for Dundee-Crown

With 5 seconds left in the game, Dundee-Crown center Charles Kimbrough simply took over the game and wouldn't let his Chargers lose.

Kimbrough, a subpar free throw shooter on the season, nailed 2 from the line to give D-C a 2-point lead. Then, the D-C senior swatted away a Jordan Neukirch shot at the buzzer as the top-seeded Chargers sweated out a gut-wrenching 35-33 win over third-seeded Huntley in the championship game of the Class 4A Dundee-Crown regional Friday night in Carpentersville.

"Charles made them when they counted," said D-C coach Lance Huber. "Those were huge shots. Then, he makes a huge block at the end. He sure was a presence tonight."

Kimbrough scored 6 points with 6 blocked shots and 8 rebounds for the Chargers (21-5), who will take on Fox Valley Conference Valley Division rival McHenry in Wednesday's Elgin sectional semifinal. McHenry stunned Prairie Ridge 56-50 in Friday's regional final at McHenry.

"I knew I had to hit the free throws," said Kimbrough. "I just was thinking we had to win this game. Then, on defense I knew I had to play with a lot of heart and I was determined not to let them score."

Huntley (15-13), which dictated the tempo for 4 quarters, trailed the Chargers 31-25 with 2:43 but refused to cave in.

A 15-footer by Zachary Petitt and an 18-footer from Brett DePorter pulled the Red Raiders within 31-29 with 2 minutes left.

Huntley tied the game at 33-33 on a pair of free throws by Neukirch with 14.4 seconds left, which set up Kimbrough's heroics.

"My guys played a great game," said Huntley coach Marty Manning. "We wanted to get clear out and get Jordan the ball. Things just didn't work out. At this time of the year there is one winner and one loser."

Jeff Beck, who was blanketed by Neukirch all night, scored 10 points, 8 in the third quarter, for D-C.

"There is a reason Jordan is playing football at (Illinois State)," said Beck. "He is a big physical kid who was running through screens. In the third quarter, we got some ball screens and I got a few open looks."

Marcus Henry added 8 points for D-C.

"We have taken everybody's best shot in the last two weeks," said Huber, whose team won its second regional in the last three years. "Tonight was a grind it out game. I was hoping to score 50, but we weren't even close. Huntley is big and strong and they played great defense."

DePorter scored 10 points for Huntley while Neukirch and Zac Boster netted 8 apiece.