Dundee-Crown falls to Waukegan in Class 4A semis
PEORIA - Bigger, stronger, faster - and awfully good.
The Waukegan boys basketball team continued to live up to its hype here Friday night, bolting out to a 15-0 lead and never looking back in rolling over Dundee-Crown 67-46 in the Class 4A state semifinals at Carver Arena.
"It's not the way we drew it up," said Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber. "They're just a really good team. Every time we missed a shot they had a two-on-one at the other end of the floor. Their best two players are going Division I and our best two players are going Division III. It was not our best game but they're a good team and we struggled."
Waukegan (26-4), which will play Whitney Young for the state championship tonight, controlled the game from the start. Illinois-bound junior Jereme Richmond spotted up and hit a 3-pointer 46 seconds into the game and the Bulldogs never looked back.
Senior Colin Nickerson, who will play at Division I Fairfield next year, added 8 points in the first quarter as Waukegan grabbed a 17-6 advantage after 8 minutes. D-C, in the state final tournament for the first time since Dundee and Crown merged in 1983, trailed 22-10 after a Greg McNally basket with 5:57 left in the first half. But then the Bulldogs went on a 13-0 run that included slam dunks by Richmond and Nickerson, and effectively put the game away.
"I thought at 17-6 we could still chip away," Huber said. "But then they went on that run in the second quarter and that really determined it."
Nickerson led the Bulldogs with 25 points while Richmond added 18 points, 11 rebounds and 4 blocks. Waukegan shot 27 of 55 for the game and only turned the ball over 13 times.
"It wasn't just me," said Nickerson. "It was a whole team effort. Everybody came and gave 100 percent."
The Chargers (24-6) trailed 37-14 at halftime. They shot just 7-for-26 in the first half and had 14 turnovers to Waukegan's 6. The Bulldogs had 9 steals in the first half and finished the game with 15. D-C, the first Fox Valley Conference boys team to make it downstate, turned the ball over a total of 23 times in the game.
"I thought we played a very complete game," said Waukegan coach Ron Ashlaw. "Our pressure defense was very good. We knew Dundee-Crown was a screening kind of team and we've had some trouble with that so I'm very pleased with our defense tonight."
The Chargers, who will take a state tournament trophy back to Dundee for the first time since old Dundee High School finished third in the state in 1946 and the first to the Fox Valley area since Elgin High finished second in 1955, played a much better second half, and everyone on the roster saw significant playing time. D-C shot 13 of 27 in the second half and ended up outrebounding Waukegan in the game 36-28.
Junior reserve Sean Bernhard led the Chargers with 8 points while Charles Kimbrough, Jeff Beck, McNally and Rob Stupar had 6 each. But while Waukegan was 9 of 16 from 3-point range, D-C could manage just 1 3-pointer in 9 attempts.
"We hoped to get off to a better start but we had a bunch of turnovers. It was frustrating," said Beck, one of eight seniors who will play their final game as Chargers tonight when they compete against Thornton for third place.
"We expected (the pressure), we just didn't come out and handle it real well. We didn't keep our composure."
Senior Marcus Henry agreed.
"We let them dictate the tempo the whole game," he said. "They're a good team so good luck to them."
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