Boys Basketball: Harlan powers past Dundee-Crown

Updated: December 23, 2011 2:07AM

Harlan’s first-quarter blitz proved too much for Dundee-Crown to overcome Thursday in the fifth-place game at the Elgin Holiday Tournament.

Following three straight days of slow starts, the Falcons came out clicking on both sides of the ball against the Chargers and had no trouble cruising to a 60-42 victory.

Dundee-Crown (6-6) had no answer for Harlan’s full-court press, and Deonte Johnson sank three three-pointers as the Falcons jumped out to a 22-5 lead. The Chargers came no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

“When we play hard, teams can’t handle us,” Johnson said.

Dundee-Crown’s problems protecting the ball continued throughout the contest, and the Chargers finished with more turnovers (23) than field goals (18).

Harlan (7-1) used a run of 16 straight points that stretched from the end of the second quarter to early in the third to take a commanding 44-17 lead. Dundee-Crown was whistled for two 10-second violations during the surge.

“We weren’t too used to that press they were in and those turnovers killed us,” Dundee-Crown’s Brandon Rodriguez said. “They have quick hands too so we couldn’t really dribble. Then we started trying to go faster, but that didn’t really help us either.”

Rodriguez led the Chargers with 11 points, Kyle Bernhard chipped in with six points and Bruce Dantzler had four points and eight rebounds off the bench.

The outcome marked a disappointing finish to the tournament for Dundee-Crown, which was coming off a 71-45 win against Buffalo Grove on Wednesday.

“I like this tournament and you see tons of different styles,” Dundee-Crown coach Lance Huber said. “The hard thing is sometimes your style just doesn’t match the other team’s style, and that might have been the case today.

“As I told the guys, we probably aren’t as good as we were (Wednesday) and we’re probably not as bad as we were (Thursday).”

Johnson finished with 18 points to lead the way for Harlan. Blaine Goodall and Anthony Knight added 14 points apiece for the Falcons, and Knight posted a team-high eight rebounds.

Harlan travels to play in the Holiday Hoops Fest at Boulder Creek High in Phoenix next week before diving back into the Public League Red South next month.

“We feel good coming out of this tournament,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to keep our heads up and move along.”

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