Mayhorn, Buffalo Grove bounce Dundee-Crown
Ever since he was brought up to the varsity team as a sophomore, Buffalo Grove senior Caleb Mayhorn has been a defensive specialist for the Bison.
In the last two games, Mayhorn has added a new dimension to his game - that of a scorer.
Mayhorn came up with a season-best 17 points while still leading the defensive charge for Buffalo Grove in the Bison's 60-46 victory Wednesday in the opening round of the 40th annual Wheeling Hardwood Classic.
"I felt that I was passive a lot," Mayhorn said. "I just wanted to take it and help out the team. That's why I took a few dribbles into the lane and open up my teammates."
Buffalo Grove coach Keith Peterson says Mayhorn has been on fire offensively as of late.
"Caleb has been up with us for three years and usually guards their best player," Peterson said. "His offensive game, the last three games, has really been coming around. It is another X-factor for us if he can keep that offense going."
Mayhorn's offense was one of the reasons that Buffalo Grove (7-5) was in a back-and-forth battle with Dundee-Crown (6-4).
The teams had a highly-paced first quarter with Buffalo Grove leading 18-15.
Dundee-Crown rallied late in the first half to take a 30-27 lead on a basket and then a 3 by Joshua Raby. The Chargers then extended their lead to 32-27 early in the third period on a basket by Brad Stec.
Buffalo Grove came back to tie it at 32 on a basket by Mayhorn. The lead then change 4 more times for a total of 17 times for the game on a basket by Dundee-Crown's Gabriel Bergeron that put the Chargers up 38-37 with 4:01 left in the third quarter.
That's when Buffalo Grove tightened its grip.
The Bison switched their defense to a 1-3-1 trap, forcing Dundee Crown to handle more pressure. And the Chargers did not handle it well.
Dundee-Crown failed to score a basket the rest of the way, going 0-for-13 from the field. To make matters worse, the Buffalo Grove pressure forced 8 turnovers.
"We have been trying all year to change our defenses and hadn't had much success with that," Peterson said. "Today it just clicked at the right time. We got on the run there and began pushing the pace, and we had a real good third quarter."
Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber said that poor ballhandling led to even poorer play on the offensive end.
"It's hard to get a shot when you turn the ball over," Huber said. "Buffalo Grove changed its defense and we couldn't handle it, which was unusual for our guys. We usually are more composed than that."
With the Bison defense stepping up, it was also time for Zach Fricke to begin to zero in from outside the act. The senior ignited a 13-0 run with a 3 and ended it with two more triples as Buffalo Grove opened up a 50-38 lead and never looked back.
"I just need a couple days off," said Fricke, who finished with 12 points in 4 three-pointers. "I haven't been shooting the ball whell all year."
Mac Camardo was a force inside for the Bison and finished with 12 points and 4 rebounds.
"We have played a lot of teams this year with some size, so that helped us today," Camarado said. "It was a good, physical game, I thought."
Tom Trieb added 13 points and 7 rebounds for the Bison.
Jack Orndahl led the Chargers with 14 points. Stec had 10 points while Bergeron had 9.
"I told our guys that this tournament would tell us a lot about ourselves," Huber said. "We were coming here to find that out, and we found some stuff out today."