McHenry rallies past Dundee-Crown
McHenry's Gavin Markgraff sure picked just the right time to find his shooting touch on Wednesday night.
The senior guard, who averages 21 points per game, was held to just 7 points through the first 3 quarters by the Dundee-Crown defense, but he buried a pair of clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to lead the Warriors to a thrilling come-from-behind 48-45 road win in Fox Valley Conference action.
McHenry (10-4, 5-1) trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half and was still down 43-34 with just over 4 minutes to play in the game before rallying back with a 12-0 run to pull ahead 46-43.
Giovanni Calabrese started the rally with a putback basket. Brian March followed with a driving layup and then Markgraff hit back-to-back 3-pointers. The second gave the Warriors the lead 44-43.
Calabrese hit 4 of 4 free throws down the stretch to help seal the win.
"(Markgraff and Calabrese) are two seniors leaders we really count on in those situations," McHenry coach Chris Madson said. "They showed a lot of poise and control in leading us back. Dundee-Crown does a great job of scouting us, but on those two 3-pointers we pulled out some stuff in the bag that we haven't showed before and have been working on the last couple days. Gavin did a really good job of working off the screens and hitting the shots. He made some amazing shots at the end and was the hero for us tonight."
Up until those two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter Markgraff had hit just 1 of his last 9 shots from the field. He finished with a game-high 15 points.
"I had to make up for all the other shots I missed," Markgraff said. "That first one was off a set play we have been working on. I got the ball pretty deep right in front of our bench and coach yelled to make it. Fortunately I did. It took all of our mental toughness to come back, but I never had a doubt we could."
The Chargers (6-9, 3-3) made just 1 of 6 shots from the field down the stretch. A last-second attempt to tie the game was well off the mark.
"What it came down to was they made some big shots and we didn't," Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber said. "Our guys played a great game and did a lot of things right most of the way. So, you really have to hand it to McHenry. We just couldn't hit water if we fell out of a boat at the end of the game."
Gabriel Bergeron had 12 points and 17 rebounds for the Chargers. Jordan Hairston had 13 points.