Crystal Lake S. shoots past Cary-Grove
Crystal Lake South boys basketball coach Matt LePage just needed to look at the shot chart and the assist statistic to crack a smile.
Sharing the ball to get high percentage shots, the Gators connected on 20 layups and collected 18 assists in posting a 67-54 Fox Conference Valley Division win over Cary-Grove in Cary Tuesday night.
“Just looking at the shot chart we had a lot of shots in the paint and we got a lot of easy shots,” said LePage, the Gators’ first-year coach. “We were very patient, and had great ball movement. It was a great win on the road against a good team.”
The Gators were able to put the finishing touches on the victory in the decisive fourth quarter.
Holding a slim 40-35 lead over the Trojans (8-14, 2-5) after 3 quarters, South assumed control of the contest by scoring the first 10 points of the fourth quarter.
Making all five of its shots on layups during the 10-0 surge, the Gators extended a 5-point third quarter lead to 15, 50-35, with 5:22 remaining in the game.
Eric Schiller scored 6 points and Austin Rogers 4 as South started the fourth quarter strong.
The Trojans didn’t score in the quarter until Steve Plazak nailed a turnaround jumper in the lane with 4 minutes left to cut the South lead to 50-37.
Cary-Grove got as close as 8, 54-46, on a layup by Tyler Szydlo with 3:22 left but couldn’t get any closer.
Crystal Lake South, which made 10-of-13 shots from the field for 76 percent in the fourth quarter, sealed the win by making 7-of-7 from the free throw line in the final 1:22.
Rogers made 5-of-5 from the line as the Gators pulled away.
Schiller enjoyed a monster game for South with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists.
“We finally played liked we practiced,” said Schiller. “We crashed the boards, got the transition game going and found the open man for layups.”
Rogers joined Schiller with 17 points while Geske scored 16.
Dean Lee led the Trojans with 14 points while Jason Gregoire scored 11 and Szydlo added 10.
“Schiller killed us tonight,” said Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schueltze. “He got a lot of boards and got easy shots. Playing from behind in the fourth quarter, we got tired and gave up a lot of layups.”