Hard-working Jared Russell, Dundee-Crown hold off Wauconda

CARPENTERSVILLE – Finals week is no time to relax, whether in a classroom or on a court.

So after Dundee-Crown wrapped up basketball practice early Thursday afternoon, senior Jared Russell went home and then came back to school to shoot extra shots with his dad, Chargers assistant coach Jason Russell.

That’s just the way D-C’s leading scorer is wired.

“He’s here all the time,” Chargers head coach Lance Huber said. “He puts in a ton of work.”

Russell’s hard work has been paying off all season, and it did again Friday. The 5-foot-11 shooting guard scored a game-high 24 points as Dundee-Crown held off Wauconda 62-57 in a nonconference game.

Russell made 7 of 15 shots from the floor, including two 3-pointers, and went 7 of 10 from the free throw line. He sank 3 of 4 foul shots in the final 1:25 after Wauconda got within 56-54.

“I worked really hard in the offseason,” said Russell, a three-year varsity player who scored a career-high 32 points against Rochelle in D-C’s third game of the season, an 80-52 win in Sycamore’s Thanksgiving tournament. “I’ve just had more opportunities to shoot the ball, just trying to do my best to get the most shots I can to help us win.”

Russell scored seven points, including a 3, in the second quarter when D-C (3-5) outscored Wauconda (1-8) 18-8 to go into halftime up 34-26, closing the half with a 12-4 run in the final 4:49. The Chargers got five layups off their motion offense in the quarter as they made 8 of 11 shots. Russell had 14 points at the break.

“We played even with them for three quarters,” Wauconda coach Ty Weidner said. “The second quarter, that four-minute stretch, that’s your ballgame. With a young team, we have to make those droughts shorter.”

Indeed, the Bulldogs opened the second half with a 9-0 run, capped by Tony Salemi’s steal and layup to give the visitors a 35-34 lead. But D-C answered with two layups by Anthony Jobe (four points, five rebounds, three charges).

A 3-pointer by Wauconda sophomore Leo Brinias (seven points) got the Bulldogs within 51-50 with 4:25 left in the fourth. D-C then ran about 20 seconds off the clock before Rasheed Trice found space in the lane, scored and converted a free throw. Trice (11 points) then scored again to make it 56-50 with 2:41 to go.

“No. 2 (Russell) is great ballplayer,” Weidner said. “We left him open [in the first half], and then we really harassed him in the second half, did more of a face guard, and made someone else beat us.”

Terrion Spencer added 10 points for the Chargers. His steal and assist to Russell, who finished a layup in transition, stretched D-C’s lead to 60-54 with 15 seconds left.

“My team was finding me,” Russell said. “They were setting screens, getting me open. I think we just had really good chemistry tonight. We worked really hard in practice to get our motion offense going, and I think tonight it really showed. They just found me, and shots fell.”

Salemi had 13 points, four rebounds and two steals for Wauconda. Sophomore wing Austin Carlsen added 12 points.

“They played a heck of a second half,” Huber said of the Bulldogs. “They really jumped on us early. We just found a way to make a few baskets here and there, and then a big rebound and put it away.”

Wauconda’s young team also played competitively against Grayslake North, Antioch and Mundelein but lost all three games as it figures out how to finish in what Weidner said is a rebuilding year.

“A competitive game, that’s what they need,” Weidner said of his players. “We’ve been in a lot of these now.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/2024/12/21/hard-working-jared-russell-dundee-crown-hold-off-wauconda/