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WW South clinches share of DVC title

It's one of the top stories of the 2016-17 boys basketball season, and no one saw it coming.

Wheaton Warrenville South beat visiting Waubonsie Valley 56-29 on Friday to clinch at least a share of its first DuPage Valley Conference title since 1999.

The Tigers (25-1, 14-0 DVC) are 2.5 games up on 11-2 Naperville North and have two games left.

"I don't think anybody would have thought that these guys would be conference champions and doing what they're doing," said Tigers coach Mike Healy.

"Look at them when they walk out on the floor. I mean, they intimidate nobody. They play extremely hard and they're great teammates to each other. I would say that if you put Vegas odds on us to be where we're at right now, we may have broke Vegas."

A 15-0 Tigers run spanning the first and second quarters broke Waubonsie Valley (8-16, 3-11), which lost for the ninth time in 10 games.

Up 10-5 midway through the first quarter, WW South got two Drew Healy free throws and a Dillon Durrett bucket in the paint from Paul Kienzle's offensive rebound and alert assist to lead 14-5 lead after one quarter.

Jake Healy, Chase Stebbins and Drew Healy opened the second quarter canning 3s on successive trips downcourt.

Durrett completed the run by grabbing a defensive rebound and dribbling the length of the court for a lay-in and 25-5 lead at 5:38 of the second quarter.

In that stretch WW South's full-court press and 1-2-2 half-court ball press forced 0-for-8 field-goal shooting. Given the Tigers' efficiency on both ends of the floor the game was essentially over, WW South up 44-27 after three quarters.

"We just run our stuff," said Drew Healy, who scored 8 points with 4 steals. "On offense, motion; defense, we just do our ball press and do the best we can."

Shooting 53 percent from the floor while committing only 7 turnovers and holding Waubonsie to 9-of-34 field-goal shooting, their best is pretty good.

"I love their effort and I love their discipline, they only take good shots and they're not selfish, they're in it for each other. They deserve to win because they do what they're supposed to do," said Warriors coach Jason Mead, led in scoring by Luke Gregorio's 9 points, Eric Cannon with 8.

The Healy brothers, Stebbins and Durrett all scored between 7 and 9 points. Junior guard Parker Robinson, born the year WW South last won the DVC, led with 15.

"It's a huge accomplishment. We're so excited. But we're still not done," Robinson said. "We want to do something really special. This season's already been a special season, one that we're not going to forget, so we just want to keep carrying this momentum."

Images: Wheaton Warrenville South vs. Waubonsie Valley, boys basketball

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