Dundee-Crown has hot hand vs. Buffalo Grove

After a tough loss Tuesday to Indiana and national power La Lumiere, Dundee-Crown boys basketball coach Lance Huber wanted to see how his team was going to respond.

The Chargers couldn’t have done much better.

D-C used great ball movement to put up 45 first-half points and bombed away 3-pointer after 3-pointer to take a 71-45 victory over Buffalo Grove at the 37th annual Elgin Holiday Tournament Wednesday.

“We passed the ball really well today and it helps when you make your shots,” Huber said. “We shot it like crazy in the first half.”

The Chargers (6-5), who will play for fifth place in the tournament finale Thursday at 5:15 p.m., shot 10 of 16 in the first quarter to take a 26-14 lead. Kyle Bernhard jacked up four 3-pointers in the first period and finished the first half going 6-for-6 to lead all players with 18 points.

The Bison (4-8) was torched for 10 total 3-pointers in the game and trailed 45-23 at the half. The Chargers went 16 of 25 from the floor in the opening half and were 8 of 10 from beyond the 3-point line.

“We wanted to come out strong after the loss (Tuesday),” Bernhard said. “We were moving the ball around and guys were hitting shots.”

Buffalo Grove center Sam Wacker (14 points) made a quick inside move and scored to bring the Bison back to a 10-9 deficit with 4:14 left in the first quarter. The Chargers then went on a 16-2 scoring run before Alex Fritz nailed his second 3-pointer of the quarter as time expired. Buffalo Grove shot 9 of 22 in the first half, and missed 5 straight shots between Wacker and Fritz’s baskets. Buffalo Grove also scored only 5 points during the final 4 minutes, 42 seconds of the second quarter.

“Dundee-Crown played a great game,” Bison coach Ryan O’Connor said. “They moved the ball really well. They hit the open shots. We simply couldn’t stop them. I did think Sam played a good game.”

Even when the Chargers’ hot hands from the first half were struggling to get shots in the third quarter, D-C found its offense.

Bruce Dantzler scored 7 of his team’s 12 third-quarter points. He went 3 of 5 in the quarter and finished the game with 9 points and 3 assists. Brandon Rodriguez (12 points) and Dylan Kissack (10 points) each finished in double digits.

“Bruce has been solid off the bench for us all year,” Huber said. “He’s really excelled in that role.”