Boys basketball: Freund, Cary-Grove shoot lights out in blowout

Cary-Grove wasn’t missing shots. Not the Trojans’ top three scoring threats. Not even shutdown defender Brandon Freund, who’s rarely an option at the offensive end for the Trojans.

At one point in the first half of Friday’s fifth-place game in the championship bracket of Jacobs’ Hinkle Holiday Classic, after C-G hit yet another jumper, a frustrated Larkin player looked at coach Anton Wilkins and shook his head.

“He was telling me, ‘Coach, it’s OK to miss shots,’ ” Wilkins said. “I was like, ‘They have not missed many.’ ”

The hot-shooting Trojans never relented after taking control midway through the first quarter en route to an 81-39 win.

Adam Bauer posted game bests of 23 points and nine rebounds, Dylan Dumele added 22 points, including four 3-pointers, and C-G (11-2, 3-1 tournament) finished 31 of 52 (60%) from the floor. The Trojans shot 10 of 22 from three-point range.

Freund’s right-corner 3-pointer early in the second quarter gave the Trojans 21 unanswered points and a 27-6 lead.

They were the first points in the tournament for Freund, who has started all season. There have been games this season where he hasn’t even attempted a shot.

“He can shoot it,” C-G coach Adam McCloud said. “He doesn’t shoot as much as we’d like, but he’s got to do more of that because it stretches the floor for the other guys. He’s a great defender, selfless teammate.”

Freund said he doesn’t mind his defensive role on the team at all.

“I like to guard the other team’s best player, day in and day out,” said Freund, a 6-foot guard. “That’s my main role. I’m a 3-and-D [defense] guy when I catch and shoot. I just enjoy doing that. I love to get my teammates involved.”

Bauer and Dumele did all of their scoring in the first three quarters, as neither played during a running-clock fourth. The 6-foot-7 Bauer had a 14-second sequence in the third quarter during which he hit a top-of-the-key 3 and then stole the ball and raced in for a two-handed dunk.

“It felt great,” said Bauer, who also hit a 3 in the second quarter. “I don’t need to take very many [3-pointers] because our team’s got a lot of good three-point shooters. If they’re hitting the shots, let them shoot.”

Those shooters include Freund, whom Bauer has known since the two high school seniors attended Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School in Cary together, kindergarten through eighth grade. Freund also made a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter, finishing 2 of 4 from beyond the arc.

“He can step it up [offensively], for sure,” Bauer said. “He’s a great teammate, great friend, and he’s a great player.”

Former Plainfield Central head coach Wilkins, who’s in his first season at Larkin, said his team came into the tournament stressing defense. The Royals (5-9, 1-3 tourney) opened with a 73-60 win over Jacobs but then lost their next three. They then got hit in their finale by a Trojan team that kept making shots.

A fadeaway jumper by Jahvion Sowers pulled Larkin even at 6-all, but Dumele drained a 3 from up top with 4:07 left in the first quarter, and the Trojans never cooled off.

C-G led 41-21 at halftime, as the Trojans shot 15 of 26 (5 of 12 from three-point range).

“It was tough,” Wilkins said. “Our guys definitely learned a lesson defensively, and all respect to Cary-Grove. They shot lights-out.”

Sowers scored 13 points to lead the Royals, who also got 10 points from Kamryn Bartee and eight from Lawrence Sallis.

C-G sophomore Evan Bauer came off the bench to score 11 points. Vinny Strissel and Dan Gordiyenko hit fourth-quarter 3-pointers for the Trojans, while Brady Elbert grabbed six rebounds.

Adam Bauer and point guard AJ Berndt (seven points) were named to the all-tournament team.

“You come here to get better,” McCloud said. “You’re always wanting to compete to win, and I’d be lying if I didn’t think we had a shot at making a run at the title. We ran into a good Naperville North team (65-48 loss on Day 2). They outplayed us. We were able to bounce back with two nice performances. Our best players are leading the way, and our role guys are following and doing their job.”