Blair sparks Cary-Grove past South Elgin
Cary-Grove senior Justin Blair has been in a bit of a slump lately, but it was hard to tell by the way he lit up the scoreboard in the fourth quarter on Tuesday in the Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs.
Blair scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the final quarter to rally the Trojans back from a 9-point deficit to a 41-39 win over South Elgin in third round pool play action. Blair hit a pair of free throws with 39 seconds for the final go-ahead points.
"We know he can be that kind of player," Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle said. "He had some big games for us last year. This year he has been struggling some, but he sure broke out in a big way today. He just gave us a lot of energy and hit some big shots."
The Trojans trailed 34-25 heading into the fourth quarter, but their stagnant offense quickly came to life when Blair scored a driving layup and then a 3-pointer in the opening 2 minutes to cut the lead to 34-30.
"I just knew we needed a spark," Blair said. "And I just tried to do whatever I could do to make an impact."
The Trojans (5-5) still trailed 38-32 with just over 5 minutes to play before making one final push to get over the top.
With 4:35 left Blair found Trevor Ruhland on a crosscourt backdoor pass under the basket. Ruhland went up strong for a layup and converted the 3-point play after being fouled.
Moments later Blair scored on a transition basket following a South Elgin turnover to get the Trojans to within 38-37 with 4:02 left. After a defensive stop Jason Gregoire drew a foul on a drive to the basket and nailed both free throws to put C-G on top 39-38 with 3:07 to play.
South Elgin tied the score at 39-39 with 2:37 left on a free throw from Logan Atkins. Both teams turned the ball over before Blair hit the go-ahead free throws with 39 seconds left.
Cary-Grove held the Storm to just one basket in the fourth quarter and forced 4 turnovers.
"We extended our zone out to half court to get a little more pressure on their ballhandlers," Schuetzle said. "We were able to trap in the corners a little more and get in the passing lanes."
South Elgin (5-7) had one last possession to tie or win it, but could get nothing going. After a timeout with 12 seconds left to play the Storm had to settle on long desperation 3-point attempt from well behind the arc by Matt Smith that came up short.
"We just couldn't get any movement going on offense," said South Elgin coach Matt Petersen. "Our guards got a little passive and weren't engaging the defenders and that allowed them to stay back on our cutters down the lane. We just need to play with more consistency."
Anthony Lynch had 12 points to lead the Storm in scoring. Smith finished with 10.