Jefferson thwarts Cary-Grove comeback
Cary-Grove got to see what it was made of.
Trailing Rockford Jefferson 19-3 to open the game, the Trojans could have easily packed it in.
They fought back to a manageable 29-24 deficit at halftime. Again, trailing 60-43 with just 4 minutes, 24 seconds left in the game the Trojans could have called it a night.
They instead bounced back with an 11-0 run to make it a 60-54 game.
Dez Agee and Jefferson, however, proved a little too much in the end as Cary-Grove dropped a 67-58 nonconference boys basketball game in Rockford Saturday night.
"We changed our press and got more aggressive with it," Trojans' coach Ralph Schuetzle said. "That's what got us back in it. We picked our spots and trapped."
The Trojans trailed 49-38 at the start of the fourth quarter, but a basket and a 3-pointer from Jon Guay brought Cary-Grove (6-9) to within 49-43.
Agee, the ultra-quick Jefferson point guard, then responded with a 3-pointer to put Jefferson back up 52-43. He then picked off a pass took it the length of the floor and scored, split a pair of free throws and made another 3-pointer to put the J-Hawks (6-10) back up 58-43.
"(Agee) really got on a roll there," said Cary-Grove's Nick Richter, who led all scorers with 25 points. "He really had a good game down the stretch. We didn't take care of the ball."
Agee finished with 4 second-half steals and scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half.
The Trojans had focused their defensive attention on Mike Chisamore (20 points), who dropped 15 points in the first half. The Trojans were able to hold the center to just 1 field goal in the second-half, but Agee was 5 of 8 including four 3-pointers.
"After we let the lead go in the first half, I wanted to go out and turn up the intensity on defense," Agee said.
Cary-Grove did its part in turning up the defensive intensity as well. The Trojans forced 7 Jefferson turnovers in the fourth quarter. Matt Aulert nabbed a steal and sent the ball down to Guay (12 points) for a layup to cut the J-Hawks' lead to 60-51 with 2:30 left. After a Trojans' stop, Richter then hit a 3-pointer to bring Cary-Grove back within 2 possessions (60-54) with 1:56 left.
The Trojans were then forced to foul and Jefferson made 5 of 8 free throws down the stretch.
The Trojans also crashed the boards stronger in the second half. Jefferson held a 16-4 rebounding advantage in the first half. Cary-Grove was outrebounded 16-13 in the second half.