Huntley's hot shooting in 3rd quarter sinks D-C

Huntley wasn't going to let Dundee-Crown have all the fun in Friday's 61-46 win in Carpentersville.

D-C burst for 17 third-quarter points after scoring 19 the entire first half.

Huntley shrugged and countered with 22 points against D-C's 1-3-1 zone defense to extend a 7-point halftime lead to 12 after three quarters.

The Red Raiders sank their first five second-half shots, including 3-pointers from senior guard Ryan Vrugt and 6-foot-5 senior Ryan Sroka, who led all scorers with 17 points.

When Huntley finally did miss a shot midway through the quarter, senior guard Ryan Crosby was there for the putback to extend the lead to 16. Huntley won the rebounding battle 21-17.

"It helps when everybody contributes and we evenly distribute points," Crosby said.

Crosby finished with 10 points in support of Sroka and senior Uchenna Egekeze, who scored 7 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter to keep Dundee-Crown from drawing any closer than 9 points.

"Cros was really good in the second half," Huntley coach Will Benson said. "We had a lot of contributions from different guys at different times and we found a way to get it done."

The victory was the third straight for Huntley (17-5, 8-1). It sets up a Tuesday rematch against Fox Valley Conference leader Cary-Grove (20-2, 10-0), which won 47-32 at Burlington Central on Friday.

"All week we were like 'Don't overlook Dundee-Crown on Friday. You have to get that one first,'" Sroka said. "Now that we've got it, we're going to go at Cary. We've been waiting for that matchup again. We're excited."

Cary-Grove defeated Huntley 63-53 in the FVC opener in Cary on Dec. 6.

"I just don't think we were ready yet," Sroka said. "Now that we've gotten in a groove, we'll be ready with our home crowd."

Huntley was ready against Dundee-Crown (8-10, 4-5), which dropped its fourth straight decision. The Red Raiders made 9 of 20 first-half field-goal attempts and committed only 4 turnovers.

"They're very talented and they shoot the ball really well," D-C coach Lance Huber said. "They have a million guys that can handle the ball. I felt like they played eight point guards."

Sophomore Kennon Cook scored 13 points to lead Dundee-Crown. Doug Miller contributed 10 points and Kyle Huber had 8 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.