Dundee-Crown holds off Johnsburg

Just when it appeared that Dundee-Crown was on its way to an easy win, the Johnsburg Skyhawks showed up.

Pressing and trapping relentlessly, Johnsburg created turnovers and turned them into easy baskets. In all, the Skyhawks scored 15 straight points to cut a 20-point Chargers’ lead to 46-41 with just under 4 minutes left.

But after a well-timed timeout by coach Lance Huber, the Chargers steadied themselves and pulled away to a 59-41 win in a Fox Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game in Carpentersville Wednesday night.

After Kyle Bernhard’s basket made it 48-41, Dylan Kissack scored 9 straight points for the Chargers. In between, Kevin Dombrowski hit a jumper and a 3-pointer to keep Johnsburg close, but the Skyhawks couldn‘t stop Kissack, who finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds.

“We lost our composure for a little bit, but after coach called timeout and talked to us, we got it into our heads that we needed to keep our composure and stick it out,” said Brandon Rodriguez, had 17 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and a block for the Chargers (7-6).

D-C showed no signs of rust following a nearly two-week layoff. The Chargers last played before Christmas at the Elgin tournament.

“We had a really nice third quarter, and then its almost like we took it for granted,” said Huber. “We haven’t played since before Christmas and they played last Friday night. That was good for them and hard for us.”

Rodriguez took advantage of the Skyhawks’ zone defense to attack the basket early. He scored 7 points in the first quarter as the Chargers built an 18-9 lead.

D-C led 46-26 after a pull-up jumper by Will Stupar (10 points). Johnsburg’s Mike Ward then hit the last basket of the third quarter, starting the Skyhawks’ comeback.

T.J. Sigmund scored 17 points, and Dombrowski finished with 10 for Johnsburg.