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Big third quarter lifts WW South past Wheaton North

The perfect combination of effort and execution came together at the perfect time for Wheaton Warrenville South's boys basketball team.

A third-quarter explosion powered the Tigers to Tuesday's 51-35 DuPage Valley Conference cross-town victory at Wheaton North, a dominant performance that avenged a home loss to the Falcons in early December.

WW South (13-8, 5-4) held a 20-13 advantage at the half - a margin that seemed massive considering the few number of points scored. The Tigers then unleashed an 18-2 third-quarter run highlighted by a trio of Matt Dacy-Seijo 3-pointers, three post buckets by Eric Rasch and 7 turnovers committed by the Falcons (11-7, 5-4).

Back-to-back Dacy-Seijo 3s pushed the Tigers to their biggest lead of 38-18 with just under three minutes to play in the quarter. Wheaton North never recovered.

"We just kept setting each other up," said Dacy-Seijo, who led a balanced effort with 13 points. "I got rolling and my teammates got rolling, and we got open looks. That's what got everything going."

WW South's defense limited Wheaton North to 11 field goals, including eight 3-pointers. Four came from Rowan McGowen, who scored all 14 of his game-high points in the second half.

The Falcons, however, never managed a significant run against the Tigers' zone press defense. Other than quick 4-0 and 6-0 bursts, Wheaton North never scored consecutive baskets.

"It was a night where it seemed like every 50-50 ball went their way," said Falcons coach Dave Brackmann, whose team never led. "We turned the ball over too many times. We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds that seemed to lead to points every time. We didn't execute. The bottom line is they took it to us for four quarters."

Rasch scored 12 points, Jeran Simpson 10 points and Matt Waldron 9 points for the Tigers, who also knocked down eight 3-pointers.

"I just loved our kids' intensity," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "They were unbelievable. They executed and played real hard."

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