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Reall's 27 lead Crystal Lake South past Hampshire

Matt Reall buries a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner. Reall connects on a 12-footer in the lane.

You get the picture.

The Crystal Lake South senior forward had a huge offensive night. Connecting on 11-of-17 shots from the field and 3-of-6 from 3-point range, Reall scored 27 points to lead Crystal Lake South to a 46-30 victory over Hampshire in Fox Valley Conference action in Crystal Lake Friday night.

On Dec 5, Hampshire defeated South 61-55 in Hampshire.

"I had 2 airballs on my last 2 shots in warmups and air-balled my first 2 shots in the game," said Reall. "I wasn't sure what kind of night I was going to have. I made a runner in the lane for my first basket and that got me going. I hit a 3 and was able to get hot. My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in good position to score. This was a big win. We played much better at the defensive end this time around."

Along with 27 points, Reall snared 9 rebounds and dished out 3 assists.

"He (Reall) is a complete player,' said Hampshire coach Ben Whitehouse. "He attacks the basket and hit shots in the lane and from 3. He has the length and he can elevate and shoot over people. He is also a key player on their defense."

Other than Reall's offensive heroics, another key for the Gators (15-6, 7-3) was smothering defense.

After giving up 61 points in a December loss, South held the Whip-Purs to 30 points.

Hampshire, which committed 20 turnovers, made only 11-of-48 shots from the field for 23 percent and 2-of-12 from 3-point range for 16 percent.

"It was a great team effort defensively," said South coach Matt LePage. "They hit 11 3's the first game we played them and they made 2 tonight. Guarding the 3-point arc was a point of emphasis the last 2 days in practice. We contested everything and we did a good job of communicating. We were very active on defense and used our length and quickness to our advantage."

With Reall scoring 17 points, the Gators held a 26-10 lead at halftime. Hampshire made only 3-of-20 shots from the field for 15 percent.

Hampshire, courtesy of a 9-2 run to start the third quarter, was able to climb back within 28-19 with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

The Whip-Purs (14-7, 6-4) couldn't get any closer.

"We had decent looks in the first half but we couldn't knock down shots," said Whitehouse. "It was a frustrating half. We had a good start to the third quarter and started chipping away at the lead. We started to get into an offensive flow. We couldn't keep it going and we were chasing all night."

Justin Anderson paced Hampshire with a 13 points.

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