Kadin Malone’s buzzer-beater lifts Dundee-Crown past Prairie Ridge

CARPENTERSVILLE – When the unlikely hero swished an unlikely basket, Dundee-Crown celebrated a victory on its home court Wednesday night.

Which seemed unlikely considering, one, the Chargers trailed Prairie Ridge by five points with less than 30 seconds left in the Fox Valley Conference game and, two, still were down one with the Wolves inbounding the ball with 10.1 seconds on the clock.

Then, after D-C forced PR’s 25th turnover of the night, giving the Chargers a chance to win the game, Kadin Malone, a 5-foot-5 junior backup guard known more for his defense, launched a high-arching shot from 18 feet out near the top of the key.

“At first,” D-C guard Jared Russell said, “I honestly thought it was going to be an air ball.”

“I did too,” Malone said. “I thought it was 50/50.”

Instead, Malone, after faking a shot and dribbling right, splashed the ball through the basket as time expired, giving D-C a 50-49 win.

Malone backpedaled, arms raised, smiling, and sprinted to the other end of the court as his euphoric and shocked teammates chased him.

“Nothing but net, and I was super excited,” said a smiling Russell, who scored a game-high 21 points, tying his season high with six 3-pointers, and was denied the ball by PR on the final possession.

“I just pulled up, soft touch, and it went in,” Malone said.

Credit, Malone said, goes to Terrion Spencer.

Spencer had the game-winning assist after putting together an 11-point, seven-steal, five-rebound effort.

“My teammate Terrion trusted me,” Malone said. “I was looking at him, just give me the ball, because my guy was helping out. I was like, ‘I’m ready for the shot,' and I did what I had to do.”

Malone wasn’t supposed to do what he did. After all, he had taken only one other shot in the game and missed it. On the final play, D-C (8-8, 2-5 FVC) inbounded the ball under the PR basket with 7.3 seconds left after forcing a jump ball.

“The plan was that we were going to bounce it into Terrion,” Russell said. “He was going to try to fake the handoff to me as kind of a decoy, and then hopefully [the defender] would bite and then he could spin over and lay it up. He tried to penetrate and Kadin’s guy sucked in, so he just kicked it out.”

Malone called it the biggest shot he’s hit since he drained a half-court game-winner as a fifth-grader playing for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dundee Township.

“I mostly don’t take shots, really,” Malone said. “I mostly play my role on defense.”

D-C coach Lance Huber noted a fun coincidence with Malone’s game-winner, recalling that Malone’s uncle, Caleb Parson, hit a game-winning 3-pointer at McHenry almost 10 years ago to the date (Jan. 23, 2015).

“Actually, it was almost from the exact same spot, now that I think about it,” Huber said. “We work on that. We do a drill called ‘triangle shooting’ and we end it with a shot fake and pull-up just like that. Kadin’s kind of a quiet guy. That was good for him to get out of his comfort zone a little bit.”

Samuel Kirk and Eli Loeding led PR (4-14, 2-5) with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Ben Gablenz had six points, five rebounds and two steals. Kirk made three of the Wolves' seven 3-pointers and did an effective job in the fourth quarter of keeping the ball out of the hands of Russell, whose six 3s all came in the first three quarters.

PR, which led 21-11 after one quarter before turning the ball over 10 times and scoring just two points in the second, committed eight turnovers in the fourth, two in the final 18 seconds. The Wolves led 49-44 after Owen Voight (seven points) scored on a layup with 31 seconds left.

“It’s self-inflicted wounds on our part,” PR coach Brian Frericks said. “We had the opportunity, we had the ball, we had our chances, and we just couldn’t hang onto the basketball. [D-C] is a good basketball team. They play so hard, and if you give them chances, they’re going to find a way to get it done, and that’s what they did.”

Sophomore Anthony Spain added eight points for D-C, which led by seven midway through the third quarter.

“We just found a way,” Huber said. “It wasn’t the best thing, but we’ll take it.”

https://www.shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/2025/01/16/kadin-malones-buzzer-beater-lifts-dundee-crown-past-prairie-ridge/