Young duo stars late vs. Crane

Whitney Young’s plan was to rest the injured right hands of Chris Colvin and Marcus Jordan against Crane on Tuesday, so they’d be ready for North Lawndale on Friday.

The Cougars weren’t willing to oblige.

Crane took a lead on the No. 6 Dolphins late in the third quarter and forced Jordan and Colvin onto the floor. In their limited time, they made sure Crane paid.

In the fourth quarter, they combined for 15 points, four rebounds, two assists, one thunderous dunk, a steal and led visiting Young to a 55-50 comeback win in a Red-West game.

“We wanted to give other guys a chance to play,” said Colvin, who finished with 10 points, four assists and four rebounds. “They didn’t execute, and we had to play.”

Behind junior Ahmad Starks and sophomore Sam Thompson, Young (14-5, 6-0) didn’t need their senior leaders early on. Starks scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the first half, and Thompson did a little of everything to give the Dolphins a six-point halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Crane (12-6, 2-4) changed that. The Cougars went on a 15-9 run and tied the game at 35. Cougars forward Bill Lee led the comeback charge as he had six points, five rebounds and one steal in the quarter

When Young coach Tyrone Slaughter called a timeout with 1:24 remaining, he inserted Jordan in the game for the first time. (Colvin started the second quarter).

Crane got ahead by as much as 40-35 before the duo emerged. Colvin put the Dolphins ahead 43-42 with a basket at 3:36. Jordan gave them a three-point lead with a runner in the lane shortly after.

After a Crane score, Colvin and Jordan put the exclamation point on the game. Colvin drove to the basket, dropped a pass off to a slashing Jordan through the lane and Jordan threw down a one-handed power dunk.

“I aggravated my hand with the dunk,” Jordan said.

The pain was worth it, though. Crane never answered back.

Thompson finished with nine points, two blocks and two steals for Young. Jordan had seven points, three rebounds and one block.

It was the first time Crandall Head matched up against the Dolphins. It had been rumored that Head would attend Young this season, and Slaughter was later suspended for illegal contact. He had 10 points, 10 rebounds and thee steals in Crane’s loss.

Lee (12 points, 11 rebounds), Aaron Richardson (11 rebounds) and Joshua Williams (10 points) also contributed for the Cougars.

* Jordan mentioned he recently talked to Oklahoma and Toledo in his recruiting process.