Crystal Lake South handles Dundee-Crown
In keeping with the holiday season, the Crystal Lake South boys basketball team was in the giving spirit Tuesday in a 53-39 victory over visiting Dundee-Crown.
The Gators improved to 7-1 overall, 1-0 in the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division by recording 17 assists on 23 field goals.
Up 8 points twice in the final 3:02, seniors Tyler Baker and Kyle Bartusch each found Zach Geske open for backdoor layups against Dundee-Crown's trapping defense.
Sharing the ball has become commonplace for these Gators, who have finished with at least 12 assists in each of their 7 victories, according to coach Matt LePage.
"Anytime you're above 15, that's pretty good," LePage said. "Sharing the ball is definitely key for this group."
Bartusch led all scorers with 15 points and put the icing on the cake when Alex Reich spotted him cutting to the basket for a final backdoor layup with less than a minute to play.
"We went for the trap a couple of times to kind of speed them up, but it opened up the back door a lot and they got some easy buckets off that," D-C senior Kiwaun Seals said.
Dundee-Crown (2-6, 0-1) pulled within 30-27 on an inside bucket by Seals with four minutes left in the third quarter, but the Gators made the D-C playmaker earn his 10 points on 3-of-18 shooting.
The Gators responded with a 10-3 run to widen their lead to 10 points through three quarters. Bartusch and Baker each scored 5 points during that push to propel CL South.
South also benefitted from strong bench play. The Gators' bench outscored the D-C reserves 18-3, led by 8 points and 10 rebounds from 6-foot-9 center Josh Friesen, a pair of 3-pointers from junior guard Tim Siesennop and 2 baskets from Reich.
"I think we're deeper than we were last year and we have a couple of guys from the bench can come in and play," Bartusch said.
The Chargers sank 6 of 9 attempts from 3-point range, but made only 7 of 25 from 2-point range. Meanwhile, the Gators shot 41 percent from the field (23 of 56), won the rebounding battle 29-21 and committed only 7 turnovers compared to Dundee-Crown's 14.
"They switched up a few times to zone, then they went back to man and they pressed us," said D-C senior Sam Buckley, who matched Seals with 10 points. "It kind of got us in a funk and out of rhythm. I think if we work the ball around more against the zone and be patient and get good looks, shots will start falling for us."
Freshman Jake Orndahl scored 8 points and senior guard Caleb Parson added 6 points for the Chargers.
Geske and Baker each finished with 10 points for the Gators, who next play Zion-Benton on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in the opening round of pool play at the Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs.