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Jefferson's late surge stymies Crystal Lake South

It was a fourth quarter to remember for Rockford Jefferson.

It was certainly an eight minutes to forget for Crystal Lake South.

With the game tied at 39 after 3 quarters, the fifth seeded J-Hawks scored the first 7 points of the final quarter and outscored the fourth-seeded Gators 24-12 in posting a 63-51 win in semifinal action of the Class 4A Crystal Lake South boys basketball regional Wednesday night.

The J-Hawks (16-14) will play top-seeded Prairie Ridge for the regional title Friday night at 7 p.m. The Gators ended the season at 16-12.

"It was a tough loss," said Crystal Lake South coach Matt LePage. "You are at home with the score tied after three quarters and you feel you have a good chance to win. We turned the ball over way too much and their ball pressure really got to us. They converted turnovers into easy baskets."

The J-Hawks (16-14), who forced 20 Gator miscues, began their 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter on a 3-point play from Micah Minneyfield, who scored on a layup and followed with a free throw which gave the J-Hawks a 42-39 advantage with 7:22 left in the contest.

My'Quoin Garrett and Alishawuan Taylor followed with layups off turnovers and Jefferson led 46-39 with 6:22 remaining.

The Gators climbed to within 5 of Jefferson, 48-43, on 2 free throws by Zach Geske with 5:22 left.

South couldn't get any closer.

Jefferson's biggest lead was 60-46 after 2 free throws by Quillin Dixon with 1:12 remaining in the contest.

Jefferson's balanced scoring was paced by Minneyfield and Montavion Zammoroni with 12 points each. Kaveon Rogers (7 assists), Dixon and Garrett tallied 11 apiece for the winners.

'I thought we did a great job of sharing the ball," said Jefferson coach Todd Brannan. "We found the open man especially in the fourth quarter and got easy baskets off our defense. We changed at halftime to a more physical defense and it worked. We got into a better flow in the second half."

Geske, a senior who was plagued by foul trouble all night, led the Gators with 18 points.

"Zach was on the bench much more than we wanted," said LePage. "In a game against a quality opponent like Jefferson we need him on the court more.''

Wes Buckner, playing in his last game as a Gator, scored 11 with 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.

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