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Parson's 3 lifts Dundee-Crown over McHenry

A lot of work in a short amount of time Friday night allowed Dundee-Crown to celebrate the benefits of all the time and effort it spent this week on a new play for Caleb Parson.

A 3-pointer by Parson from the top of the key with two seconds to play wiped out a 10-point deficit in the final six minutes and gave the Chargers a 41-40 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball victory at McHenry's West Campus.

"In practice we did it a few times and coach (Lance Huber) kept telling me, 'We made this play for you and you have to hit it in a game,' " said Parson, who hit three 3s and scored 11 points. "I hit it almost every time in practice. I have to give it up to my coaches for drawing that play up and my teammates getting me open."

Parson said the only other time he hit a game-winning shot was in sixth grade on a layup off an offensive rebound. But this was the second straight year D-C (6-12, 2-2) won by a point on the last shot at McHenry (4-17, 1-3).

Last year it was Kiwi Seals beating the buzzer with a driving 10-footer. Seals played a different role this time as Huber opted not to use his last timeout after Matthew Mohr split a pair of free throws for a 40-38 McHenry lead with 14.5 seconds left.

Sam Buckley (14 points on 6-for-12 shooting) got the ball on the left wing and fed Parson for his open look up top as the Chargers snapped a four-game losing streak and extended the Warriors' to six.

"We put that play in this week and we really practiced it all throughout the week," Buckley said. "Kiwi made a great hard cut that attracted three or four people and Caleb was open for the 3."

D-C was outscored 10-2 in a stretch that lasted 13:18 and McHenry took a 33-23 lead when junior guard Nicholas Bellich (16 points) found Corey Lersch (8 points, 9 rebounds) for a reverse layup with 6:40 left.

D-C had missed 9 of its 10 second-half shots when Buckley sandwiched a pair of 3s around a drive to make it 33-31 with 3:55 left.

"We talked this week about getting back to basics and forgetting all the other stuff and going out and playing hard," Huber said. "For the most part our guys stuck with it and played hard."

Seals (11 points) missed 8 straight shots before scoring 7 straight points in less than a minute. His 3 with 17.2 seconds to play cut the Chargers' deficit to 39-38.

"The last two trips they made plays," said McHenry coach Tim Paddock after his team missed a pair of 1-and-1s in the final 1:08.

D-C's only leads before Parson's shot were 2-0 and 4-3, it made just 8 of its first 28 shots and was outrebounded 16-6 in the second half and 26-16 overall. But all of that was forgotten during its on-court celebration after the buzzer.

"We kept playing hard," Parson said.

"It was pretty unreal," Buckley said. "It still has not registered completely. We really had to battle back. To come out with a win is an awesome feeling for the whole team."

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