Gators hit goals

Crystal Lake South's Alex Macaulay (center) breaks through the defense of Crystal Lake Central's Jake Chrystal (left) and John Nemcek on Friday at Central. South won. (Catalin Abagiu – cabagiu@nwherald.com)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake South’s performance left little room for criticism.

The Gators played efficient offense and suffocating defense in taking apart Crystal Lake Central, 57-39, Friday night in their Fox Valley Conference crossover boys basketball game that marked the end of the regular season.

“We have eight goals that we focus on for each game,” Gators coach Dan DeBruycker said. “We got six of them against McHenry (last week), and we got seven tonight. We played the game the way it’s supposed to be played.”

South (15-12) next meets McHenry (16-9) at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the IHSA Class 4A South Regional. The Gators, who had lost five of six games, have played two of their best games heading into the playoffs, achieving their goals in 13 of a possible 16 categories.

“I love the system,” Gators guard Alex Macaulay said. “Anything over four (out of the eight) and we usually come out on top. It’s a pretty accurate indicator of how we play. We played really well in a lot of aspects tonight.”

Macaulay mentioned the 14 turnovers were a little high, but other than that, the Gators were solid. They harassed Central into 24 turnovers, shot 45.6 percent from the field and did not rely too much on three-pointers.

“We try to rely on getting into the paint and getting to the free-throw line,” Macaulay said. “We were trying to attack the basket and not chuck up too many threes.”

Macaulay and Ethan Breitenstein scored 14 each to lead South. Robbie Lemke added 10 points and six rebounds, and Kevin Rogers scored nine.

Central (9-17) hit three three-pointers in the first quarter to remain close at 17-14, but the Gators kept the Tigers from scoring for almost 7 minutes, holding them to four second-quarter points. South led, 33-18, at halftime.

“They came out and played that (1-3-1) zone and did a great job,” Central coach Rich Czeslawski said. “They were fantastic, all credit to them. That said, we laid an egg. They upped the pressure, and we panicked and didn’t execute what we had practiced all week.”

Joe Pijanowski led Central with three threes and 13 points.

“We knew it was a crosstown rivalry game, and that’s always a fun game,” Lemke said. “We had to show up and execute well and play hard. Everything was working for us.”