CL Central takes third at shootout

Crystal Lake Central's Jake Chrystal puts up a shot during Sunday's semifinal game against Chicago North Lawndale at the Crystal Lake Shootout. Lawndale won, 48-47. (Travis Haughton – thaughton@nwherald.com)

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Crystal Lake Central used a balanced scoring attack to defeat Barrington, 66-41, and capture third place at the 20th Annual Crystal Lake South Gary Collins Shootout on Sunday.

The Tigers got contributions from almost their entire lineup with 11 players getting into the scorebook. Joe Pijanowski led Central with 15 points and pulled down five rebounds.

Unlike their quarterfinal game against Elgin, Central was balanced in their shot selection and scored from the outside and down close. The Tigers hit four three-pointers – two by Chase Cane and one each by Pijanowski and Jake Chrystal.

Central was able to score in the flow of its offense both in transition and its half court sets. Pijanowski said that rhythm gets everybody going.

“Once you hit a couple, it just goes together,” Pijanowski said. “It gets the whole team clicking.”

The offensive flow and ball movement got everybody more touches and more scoring chances.

“We don’t have to rely on one person,” Pijanowski said. “We can move the ball around.”

That balance was especially beneficial with forward Jake Chrystal picking up three first half fouls. Chrystal picked up his fourth foul with nine minutes left and sat out the remainder of the game with the Tigers up by 20.

Also for the Tigers, Chrystal and Cane each scored 10 points and Nick Marchetti scored eight. Alex Polk pulled down seven rebounds.

In the semifinals, Crystal Lake Central nearly pulled off a huge upset, losing to Chicago North Lawndale, 48-47. North Lawndale won the IHSA Class 2A State Finals in 2008, was second in Class A in 2007 and third in Class 3A in 2009.

“North Lawndale was a great game for us,” Tigers’ coach Rich Czeslawski said. “What a great opportunity to play a team that has been downstate three of the last four years.”

While Czeslawski might replay the one point loss to North Lawndale in his head for some time, he was happy with how his team played and connected in the shootout that capped their summer season.

“We wanted to win, but I couldn’t be happier with the way they played,” Czeslawski said. “[Sunday] was the last day of summer basketball. That’s what you hope to be doing on your last day, and we were.”

Tournament roundup: Hyde Park defeated North Lawndale, 48-43, to win the shootout championship. In a battle of two very quick and explosive teams, Hyde Park was able to play more consistently and under control to get the win.

Jacobs took fifth place, defeating Elgin, 48-42. Rockford Lutheran was seventh with a 49-46 win against Crystal Lake South.

McHenry lost to Harper, 60-53, in the A Consolation championship. St. Charles North defeated Huntley, 50-48, to win the B Consolation.