Boys Basketball: Jordan Perry leads Crete-Monee past Rich Central

Updated: December 13, 2011 9:45PM

After garnering 27 points and seven rebounds in a 76-60 win over Rich Central on Tuesday night, Crete-Monee’s Jordan Perry wasn’t about to gloat.

“There were a couple of times when I took some shots I thought I was going to airball,” Perry said. “I’m not too good at layups with my left hand.”

The senior forward was good at just about everything else. He rarely missed, showing a soft touch around the hoop and range out to 17 feet. And it’s easy for him to fly under the radar with University of Illinois recruit Michael Orris (15 points) collecting the opposing team’s defensive attention.

It was his best game of the season, but Perry seemed more proud of the way his team responded from a loss to Notre Dame over the weekend.

“We were kind of lackadaisical in practice the day before the Niles game,” Perry said. “We came back really competitive and worked hard. The bench was in it and we played with passion tonight.”

The fire was evident as Crete-Monee (5-2) looked to blow the doors off Rich Central early by amassing a 32-13 lead in the second quarter. The Olympians keyed on stopping Orris, but Crete-Monee spread the wealth, registering eight assists on its 15 first-half field goals.

Rich Central (2-7) weathered the storm and wouldn’t go away. The Olympians cut the lead to seven on two different occasions midway through the fourth quarter — the second time on a three-pointer by Lance Cole (nine points). That’s as close as they would get.

Crete-Monee turned the last few minutes into a dunking festival. Perry jammed home two dunks, and junior Mark Conner put the exclamation point on the evening with a tomahawk jam that cleared the Rich Central faithful from the bleachers.

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