AJ Demirov delivers in Crystal Lake South’s win

JOHNSBURG – AJ Demirov’s double-double included 10 assists.

Not 11.

Still, Demirov’s sneaky setup to himself on a second-half inbounds play may have best explained the groove he was in during Crystal Lake South’s 78-48 win over the host Skyhawks in the third-place game of the Johnsburg Thanksgiving Tournament on Friday afternoon.

“My point guard is amazing,” Gators senior forward Cooper Buelna said of Demirov. “I’ve never seen one like him in my high school career.”

Demirov scored 19 points, Buelna had 17, and Tony Santarelli added 15 and seven rebounds for the Gators (2-1), whose up-tempo play, spurred by their 1-3-1 zone defense, had them up 25-9 after the first quarter. South, which had 21 assists, also got nine points from sophomore starting guard Carson Trivellini.

“Our seniors – Tony, Cooper, AJ – those guys played a very good game, a complete game,” said Crystal Lake South coach Matt LePage, who sat his starters during a running-clock fourth quarter.

“They’re good, they’re big and they’re long,” Johnsburg coach Mike Toussaint said of the Gators. “We didn’t hit shots, and we didn’t move a lot. It was a struggle.”

Demirov hit three 3-pointers and shot 6 of 14 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the line. He put an exclamation point on his day late in the third quarter when he inbounded on the Johnsburg baseline, bounced the ball off the back of an unsuspecting defender and dropped in a layup.

“That was my first time ever doing it,” Demirov said. “I just saw it. [The defender] was turned all the way around, so I was like, ‘I may as well try it.’ "

“He had it going,” LePage said of his four-year varsity playmaker. “He was scoring, distributing, making people better. He’s always been a scoring point guard, but he’s starting to trust his teammates. I think he knows for us to become a really good team he’s got to get those guys going.”

Five South players scored in the first quarter, with Demirov, Buelna and reserve sophomore guard Nick Stowasser hitting 3-pointers. Buelna scored in transition with 24 seconds left after grabbing a long rebound to extend South’s lead to 25-7. Demirov even blocked a corner 3 in the first quarter.

“I thought they were going to come out in a box-and-one like they did against Barrington, at least pressure full court like Waukegan did [in South’s 79-66 loss Wednesday], but they were kind of sagging off,” Demirov said of the Skyhawks. “My teammates got going early, so it made it easier for me to get going too.”

“Crystal Lake South has too many weapons to do [a box-and-one],” Toussaint said. “Barrington was more one-dimensional.”

Johnsburg senior sharpshooter JT Schmitt scored a game-high 22 points, going 5 of 10 from 3-point range. But the next highest scorer for the Skyhawks was Sawyer Perry, who sank two 3s and scored seven points in the fourth quarter.

“We struggled shooting the whole tournament,” Toussaint said. “Today we just added turnovers [16 through three quarters] to that. I thought we stood around a lot. It’s going to take us a few games to get going. We’ll be all right.”

The win figures to give South momentum when it begins defense of its Fox Valley Conference title Wednesday at home against Dundee-Crown.

“Today we were really trusting each other a lot, passing the ball and not playing too fast,” Buelna said. “I felt like we were all in the moment. I want to thank my teammates too. I feel like we all just did amazing.”