Waubonsie Valley hangs tough against DeKalb
Freshman Sean Reynolds sank a pair of free throws with 5.8 seconds left and DeKalb survived a defensive battle with Waubonsie Valley on Friday night, winning the DuPage Valley Conference game in DeKalb 45-41.
"We know he can make free throws so he's one of the guys we want to go to," Barbs coach Mike Reynolds said. "When the ball got kicked out to him we were pretty confident. It was nice to see him go and knock them down."
It took strong contributions from several Barbs to hold off a tough Warriors squad, which had trailed all game until sophomore Tyler Threat's basket with 2:16 remaining gave them a 39-38 lead.
"At the end I thought we had it, we were this close, but credit to them, they pulled it out," Warriors coach Andrew Schweitzer said. "We're young and still figuring out every single way of how to finish a game now. We've been on the road now against a high-quality opponent and that fourth quarter is when you have to absolutely buckle down. And we're getting there, and we're getting close, but we're not quite there yet."
DeKalb (8-2, 3-0) received a big first half from Demarrea Davis, but he fell hard to the floor early in the second half. While Davion Hines Jr. couldn't score at his pace, he was a huge presence on defense and in grabbing six rebounds.
"He kind of saved us a little bit with his defense and rebounding," Mike Reynolds said. "And with Demarrea a little banged up, it was nice to see another guy step up."
Senior Lane McVicar led the Barbs with 16 points and 10 rebounds. He converted all six of his free-throw attempts while the Barbs made 16 of 20 as a team compared to Waubonsie Valley's 7-of-11 effort.
"Lane played really well," Reynolds said. "I think he'd probably tell you he wanted to play better, but I thought he played pretty well. He just controlled the game at a pace that it needed to be today. Each game is a new identity and he took advantage of what they were giving him tonight."
He made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 1:29 left to give the Barbs the lead again at 40-39 as the Warriors' only lead of the night lasted all of 47 seconds.
"Our kids fought their tails off," Schweitzer said. "That's a talented DeKalb team. I hate losing as much as anyone, but I feel good at where we're going to end up."
Threat scored 13 off the bench and Tyler Helbing added 11 for the Warriors.
Waubonsie Valley (6-4, 1-2) still had a chance when DeKalb missed two free throws with 9.4 seconds left, but Hines snagged another rebound and the Warriors were forced to foul Sean Reynolds who converted his two tries.
"It wasn't pretty and sometimes it isn't, but I just thought we clawed and fought and it was different guys tonight," Mike Reynolds said. "We struggled shooting and finishing through contact, but overall it's a conference game and we found a way to win. I'm proud of our guys for that."