D-C stuns No. 2 Neuqua Valley in supersectional battle
DeKALB - Details and toughness.
Dundee-Crown senior Jeff Beck said that's what the Chargers' boys basketball team had to pay attention to here Tuesday night if they wanted to become the first D-C team to make the IHSA's Final Four.
Give coach Lance Huber and Dundee-Crown an A-plus on that one.
With Beck scoring a game-high 29 points, and senior Marcus Henry adding 15 - including a 9 of 9 effort at the free-throw line, the unheralded Chargers stunned No. 2 Neuqua Valley 64-59 in front of 2,989 in the Class 4A supersectional at the NIU Convocation Center.
"We knew we could come in and play with them," said Beck. "We just had to be aggressive and set the tempo. It was all about paying attention to details and toughness."
The win advanced the Chargers (24-5) to Friday's 6:30 p.m. state semifinal in Peoria against Waukegan, which downed Glenbrook North 68-46 Tuesday. Dundee-Crown has never been to an IHSA state final in boys basketball since Dundee and Crown merged in 1983. Dundee High School, which won a state championship in 1938, last brought home state hardware in 1946 when the Cardunals finished third in Champaign.
Dundee-Crown is also the first team from the Fox Valley Conference to reach the state basketball finals.
"Our goal was to practice 70 times and we're able to meet that goal (today)," said Huber, the seventh-year Chargers coach, who won his 100th career game Tuesday.
The Chargers controlled Tuesday's game from the get-go. They led 4-0, it was tied 4-4, then D-C went on an 8-2 run to close the first quarter up 12-6. The Wildcats (31-2), who had won 23 straight, never got closer until they made it a 5-point game twice in the fourth quarter.
"Poor shooting got us into trouble, but that was also great defense," said Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton. "They executed. They executed the back door and we were just staring into space. Give their offense credit. They ran a great offense, but defensively we were slow to react. The toughest team won tonight."
D-C dominated the first half and led 28-17 at the break after Colin McCarthy banged home a 6-footer with two seconds left. But the Chargers knew Neuqua, which had come from behind in each of its four previous playoff games, would try to make a run early in the second half.
"Having that nice lead at halftime was good for us, but we had more to do," said Beck.
And the Chargers did. Instead of letting Neuqua take over the tempo, D-C kept a firm stranglehold on the game, and the Chargers' partisan crowd sensed a trip to Peoria as the minutes ticked away.
D-C led by as many as 16 at 38-22 midway through the third quarter, and carried a 43-31 advantage into the fourth when Beck's runner in the lane rolled over the top of the rim and in at the third quarter buzzer.
Neuqua closed to within 49-44 on a Kareem Amedu hook in the lane with 3:46 left but Henry made 2 free throws and assisted Beck on a bucket to restore the 9-point lead with 2:36 to play.
The Wildcats' last gasp came when they made it 53-48 on 2 free throws by Rahjan Muhammad with 2:01 left. But Gregory McNally made 2 from the line and Charles Kimbrough (6 points, 9 rebounds, 4 blocks) did the same and D-C led 57-48 with 1:06 to go. Beck sent the party into high gear for the Chargers by nailing 3 from the line down the stretch, sending Dundee-Crown to an unlikely matchup against Waukegan and Illinois recruit Jereme Richmond on Friday at Carver Arena.
"It's great to go downstate and be in the Final Four," Huber said. "Everybody's aspiration is to go downstate. I just wanted to play it one game at a time and see these guys get better."
And now Huber and the Chargers get that 70th practice, as well as two games on the big stage in Peoria.