Dundee-Crown pulls away from Elgin
Dundee-Crown needed three quarters to finally pull away from Elgin Wednesday night.
The pesky Maroons hung with D-C for the first 16 minutes of the game and only trailed 35-29 at halftime.
The Chargers took control in the third quarter for a 76-66 nonconference win in Elgin.
"Elgin is on their home floor. They are not going to come in and let you beat them. They are a scrappy team," said D-C coach Lance Huber. "I thought they would be ready to play today and they were. They made some shots and they turned us over a few times and got some easy baskets and that led to the score at halftime."
Elgin's zone defense kept D-C from working the ball inside in the first quarter. The Chargers only sank four baskets in the period. Thanks to three trips to the free-throw line, D-C ended the first eight minutes tied 14-14.
Unable to shoot from the inside, the Chargers went to their outside game in the second quarter and drained five 3-pointers. Elgin responded with four of its own. Trey Yarber sank his first trey from the left corner at the 5:53 mark to give Elgin a 19-16 lead. The senior finished the night with 18 points including four 3-point baskets.
Dundee-Crown's Joshua Raby responded with his first of three baskets from beyond the arc in the second quarter to retie the game. Raby led all scorers with 20 points.
D-C (16-4) retook the lead, which it never relinquished, 21-19 on a conventional bucket by Jack Michalski with 4:56 left in the half.
The Chargers started working the ball inside during the third quarter to give themselves a little more breathing room. Brad Stec was the chief benefactor. The 6-6 forward scored 10 of his 18 points from inside the paint during the period.
"When they made their run it was a little too much to overcome," said Elgin coach David Hess. "When they got to the middle we let them pass it and they found the open guy. Our rotations weren't as good."
D-C led 53-32 at the start of the fourth quarter. A Doug Miller putback at the 3:00 mark widened the margin to 16 points, 66-50. Miller, a junior, scored 11 points.
Elgin (4-17) staged one more rally. On back-to-back buckets by Xavier Bond and Jeffrey Lomax, the Maroons pulled within 67-57 with two minutes left to play. Bond led all Elgin scorers with 19 points.
"In the second half we came out and took better care of the ball," Huber said. "We got some easy baskets and they really didn't make a lot of them until the fourth quarter and lucky for us, we were ahead by 16."