Size, experience help net Dundee-Crown Strombom title over Burlington Central
Dundee-Crown's scouting report for Burlington Central was pretty straight forward coming into Saturday night's championship game of Sycamore's Strombom Holiday Tournament.
"He's only averaging like 35," Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber said of Burlington Central senior Patrick Mayfield. "We thought if we could keep him under wraps we'd have a good chance and it worked out well for us."
Mayfield still scored 23 points including five 3-point baskets. But after scoring 33 and 42 points earlier in the tournament, 23 felt like a win.
Jordan Hairston, one of five seniors in Dundee-Crown's veteran lineup, had the primary responsibility for Mayfield, and he got plenty of help from his teammates if Mayfield ever found an opening.
The result was a 64-52 tournament championship for the Chargers over their future fellow Fox Valley Conference member.
"Coach told us to make an adjustment to stay at home and I was able to somewhat keep him contained," said Hairston, who also led the way for the Chargers offensively with 23 points of his own.
Hairston wasn't even one of the three Chargers on the all-tournament. Those honors went to Jack Michalski, Brad Stec and Josh Raby, the captain of the all-tournament team.
Dundee-Crown (4-0) never trailed in the championship game, leading 22-7 after the first quarter and by at least 8 points the rest of the way.
"We had a really good summer this year," Raby said. "We competed in a lot of higher tournaments. We've got a good group.
"He (Mayfield) was our main focus tonight. We put our best defender on him. Jordan did a good job but it was a team effort. Everyone was there in the help line when he tried to drive. He's a heck of player and our game plan was to slow him down. I thought we did a good job on him tonight."
Mayfield put the Rockets (3-1) on the board with his first 3-pointer off a feed from Zac Schmidt, bringing the Rockets within 4-3. But the Chargers scored the next 12 points to take command, a run that included 7 points inside from Hairston.
The Chargers used their strength inside all game to dominate the glass and the points in the paint.
"Our size was beneficial," Huber said.
A late flurry by Mayfield to end the second quarter kept the Rockets within 10 points at halftime. He hit a 3-pointer while being fouled - the first of two 4-point opportunities.
Mayfield missed the free throw but blocked a shot on the Chargers' end, then banked in a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to pull the Rockets within 38-28 at halftime.
Joshua Hudgens scored the first points of the second half to make it 38-30, and that was as close as the game would get. Hairston's basket started a 12-2 Dundee-Crown run to open a 50-32 lead. The Chargers built their biggest advantage at 58-34 on Raby's jumper.
"We couldn't have done it without Jordan," Huber said. "That was maybe the best he's played in four years.
"It's always nice to start with four wins and I thought our guys kept getting better every game. I'm really proud of the way they played tonight."
Michalski followed Hairston with 14 points and junior Justin Prusko came off the bench with 8.
Mayfield finished the tournament with 113 points in 4 games for a 28.2 average. Braden Seyller joined him on the all-tournament team, Hudgens added 13 points Saturday, and Schmidt paced the Rockets on the glass with 6 rebounds.