Neighbors can argue which shot was bigger on Friday night. Was it Joe Pijanowski's huge 3-pointer with five seconds left in regulation? Or was it Tyler Dawson's stunning putback that beat the buzzer and sent the game into overtime?
(22-4) took 's best punch and came out standing during the Tigers 54-51 overtime win over the Gators. The rivalry game at South closed out the regular season.
Now back to those pressure seconds in regulation.
Find out what's happening in Crystal Lake-Carywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Central, trailing 47-46, called timeout with 25 seconds to play.
"We tried to get the ball to Jake (Chrystal),'' said CLC coach Rich Czeslawski. "All I saw was he fed Pijanowski.''
Find out what's happening in Crystal Lake-Carywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Pijanowski (13 points) found himself open from 3-point land.
"We were running good offense and I happened to be open,'' Pijanowski said.
The new 49-47 lead looked safe enough as South's 3-point shooting ace Kevin Rogers' (15 points) hurried shot was short of the mark.
And out of nowhere came 6-foot-6 Dawson to the rescue, grabbing the rebound and making the shot before time expired.
"I saw the ball was going to be short,'' Dawson said. "And I knew I didn't have a lot of time."
Chase Cane (11 points) hit a big 3-pointer to open the extra session, putting the Tigers up for good. Matt Gleixner's layup sealed the game. The Tigers center also scored 11 points.
The Gators (14-11) did not score a two-point basket for nearly 10 minutes of this FVC crossover game. It did not matter. Instead, South settled for five 3-pointers. Rogers had a pair. Also landing threes in the first quarter were Will Ahsmann, Gavin Rubin and Robbie Lemke.
The Tigers made their move in the second quarter. Gleixner, who returned to the lineup following a fever, had 8 points in the quarter as the Tigers took a 28-23 lead to halftime.
The third quarter belonged to the home team. It looked like the Gators might even toss a shutout in the period. On a flip shot from Rubin (7 points), the Gators had gone on a 12-0 run to open up a 35-28 lead.
"That's our 1-3-1 defense,'' Dawson said. "We were getting deflections. Our goal is to hold teams to 40 points every game."
Czeslawski also gave praise to the South defense.
"They play great defense,'' he said. "We knew that going in. That 1-3-1 is very long and they are very good at it."
Cane's 3-pointer ended the drought for Central. Chrystal helped the Tigers with 12 points and 9 rebounds. The Gators also had help from Dawson (10 points) and Lemke (7 points).
Playoff action begins on Tuesday night for CLC at the Hampshire Regional. Despite it's 22-win season, the Tigers play a winning club from Burlington Central. The Gators have to wait until Wednesday to open play in the Prairie Ridge Regional. South will play McHenry (8:10 p.m.).
Best Wishes: Czeslawski announced his friend and CLS head coach Dan DeBruycker left before the game due to health reasons.
