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Crystal Lake South handles Cary-Grove

Even routine jump shooters like Zach Geske, who missed his first shot attempt Tuesday then rattled off 7 of his next 8, can be speechless when asked to describe a hot hand.

“It's hard to explain,” the Gators guard said of his scorching 19-point first half in Crystal Lake South's 55-41 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division boys basketball win over Cary-Grove at The Swamp. “I really don't have an answer to that.”

But neither did the Trojans (5-16, 2-5), who watched Geske total 29 points on 11 of 20 shooting, including four 3-pointers that gave South (13-8, 6-1) the early cushion it needed in its fourth-straight win before a pivotal matchup at first-place Jacobs Friday.

“We've had problems getting out to good starts,” Geske admitted. “We made that a point of emphasis to come out and be ready to go.”

South jumped out to a 17-4 advantage late in the first quarter while Geske's final 3-pointer from the right corner with 3:46 left in the half gave the Gators a solid 28-14 lead. Geske outscored C-G by himself by halftime as South walked in with a 31-18 cushion on 55 percent shooting with only 5 turnovers.

“I thought we had great ball movement and we took care of the ball for the most part for most of the night,” said Gators coach Matt LePage, whose team shot 44.4 percent. “We were pretty locked in the whole way and rode that momentum the rest of the game.”

Weston Buckner added 9 points and 13 rebounds as South owned a 34-14 rebound advantage and held the Trojans without a free throw. South's only trouble came during a 15-8 third quarter run by C-G, which connected on its first 5 shots of the quarter. Daniel Schmidt scored 4 of his team-high 18 points in that stretch while Zach Beaugureau's (14 points) second 3-pointer with 3:12 left made it 39-33.

“We were trying to get quick swings to (Danny Schmidt), inside and out,” said Trojans coach Ralph Schuetzle, whose team shot 40 percent. “Beaugureau can really shoot it, Loch if he's open can knock it down ... we just couldn't sustain it.”

Mostly because South reserve Noah Wilde nailed the door shut 3 possessions later with a 4-point play, when he was fouled on his left-wing 3 for a 45-33 lead with 1:31 left.

“Like coach said, it was a backbreaker,” said Wilde, who scored 6 points and watched South push it to 16 in the fourth. “It was just a huge play for us.”

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