Dual-threat D-C tops Prairie Ridge

Dundee-Crown's Bruce Dantzler jumps toward the basket late in the fourth quarter Tuesday against Prairie Ridge in Crystal Lake. D-C won 51-40. (Daniel J. Murphy – dmurphy@shawmedia.com )

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CRYSTAL LAKE – Dundee-Crown forward Dylan Kissack and guard Brandon Rodriguez feel they can provide a formidable 1-2 scoring punch for the Chargers.

“If he’s not going, then I’m going,” Rodriguez said. “And if I’m not going, he’s going.”

When they both get going, as they did on Tuesday at Prairie Ridge, D-C can be very tough.

The Chargers shook off a sluggish first quarter behind the shooting of Rodriguez and Kissack for a 51-40 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division victory. D-C (9-6 overall, 2-0 FVC Valley) maintained a share of first place in the division with Huntley.

Rodriguez scored eight of his game-high 19 points in the second quarter, including a 30-footer at the halftime buzzer for a 23-22 lead. He hit his last seven shots and finished with 8 of 12 field-goal shooting.

“I didn’t mean to double-clutch that shot [at halftime],” Rodriguez said. “Luckily, it went in.”

Kissack opened the second half with the first of his three threes to spark a 14-4 run for the Chargers.

“We’re a pretty good pair,” said Kissack, who scored 15 points. “We work well together.”

Rodriguez missed his first two shots of the second quarter.

After that, he and Kissack hit 12 of their next 14 from the field.

“We really had a hard time offensively in the first half,” D-C coach Lance Huber said. “Give Prairie Ridge credit for the defense they played. Brandon got us some points in the second quarter and kept us in there. Then Dylan got loose in the second half and was able to knock some of those down.”

D-C hit 10 of 26 shots in the first half, then made 10 of 18 in the second. Prairie Ridge (4-11, 0-2) narrowed the gap to 36-30 after three quarters, but Kissack hit a three from each corner in the first 2:05 of the fourth and the Chargers cruised from there.

“I was cutting hard and guys would drive, then kick out to me,” Kissack said. “The first half was rough overall. It was nice as a team to hit shots in the second half.”

D-C also committed 10 turnovers for the game, a total that Huber really appreciated.

“We’ve been getting better at that,” he said. “We talked before the game that if we can keep that number down, we’ll be OK.”

Luke Keller led the Wolves with 13 points, nine in the first half. Prairie Ridge led, 11-6, after the first quarter and would have had the halftime lead if Rodriguez had not nailed the long three.

“We did shoot well and played better offensively in the first half,” Wolves coach Corky Card said. “[Dundee-Crown] ran their stuff and got open shots because they ran good action. They don’t take bad shots.”