Cary-Grove forward Adam Bauer said he and his basketball team wanted to put away Crystal Lake South early in Friday night’s Fox Valley Conference showdown.

The Trojans almost did. Two-time defending conference champs rarely go away easily, however.

Cary-Grove built an early lead, extended it to 15 early in the second half, saw it dwindle to two late in the fourth quarter and then created separation down the stretch in pulling out a 61-53 decision.

The visiting Trojans (20-2, 10-0 FVC) never trailed in winning their 10th game in a row, while cooling off South. The Gators (15-7, 7-3) had won nine straight and came into the game tied for second place in the FVC with Burlington Central.

“We didn’t want to give them a chance to earn that conference title,” Bauer said after posting game highs of 22 points and 13 rebounds. “We’re looking forward and can’t wait to see how the rest of the season rolls out.”

South came in averaging 70.3 points during its winning streak but had only 14 points at halftime. The Gators shot 1 of 10 from 3-point range in the first 16 minutes and generated few easy shots against C-G’s man-to-man defense.

“We came out incredibly tentative,” said coach Matt LePage, whose Gators shared the FVC title with McHenry last season, after winning the championship outright the previous year. “We needed to get the lead early and set our defense. I just thought we played soft. We’ve been playing really well, so I don’t know. I can’t explain that start.”

Noah Cook, who had scored in double digits in eight of South’s past nine games, scored five points early against C-G but picked up his third foul midway through the second quarter. Cook sat the majority of the game and never scored again.

C-G’s Brandon Freund helped limit Carson Trivellini to two points in the first half. But the Gators junior guard, who scored his 1,000th career point against Jacobs two nights earlier, came out aggressively to start the second half.

Freund’s second 3-pointer of the game extended the Trojans’ lead to 29-14 less than a minute into the second half. Trivellini then took over, first feeding Ryan Morgan (eight points) for a 3-pointer, before attacking the basket and knocking down shots of his own.

C-G played a box-and-one defense on Trivellini in the second half, but the Gators’ all-conference player from a year ago was ready for it.

“In the first half I was really trying to get everyone involved because I knew that eventually they’d probably end up going to the box-and-one, which they did,” Trivellini said. “So once they go to the box-and-one, I just got to let my other guys go to work and trust them.”

Trivellini, who shot 1 of 6 from the floor in the first half, scored 10 points, including two 3-pointers, in the third to help get the Gators to within 45-37.

He drained another 3 in the fourth and finished with a team-high 20 points.

“He was outstanding tonight,” C-G coach Adam McCloud said. “He’s shooting to contested shots. It’s not like he’s wide open.”

Morgan’s second 3 of the game, off a Trivellini dish, cut C-G’s lead to 47-44 with 5:41 to go. Ryan’s twin, John Morgan (six points), muscled in a basket, pumped his fist, and the Gators’ deficit was 54-52 with 2:21 left. Trivellini hit a contested 3 less than 40 seconds before that.

“We let [Trivellini] get away from us a little bit in the second half,” said Bauer, who also had two blocked shots and two steals. “But he’s a really good player, good shooter.”

C-G secured the win thanks to a 6-0 run that featured two free throws by Dylan Dumele (seven points), a layup by Brady Bauer (eight points) and a two-handed dunk by Adam Bauer after a pass from AJ Berndt (10 points, eight in the second half).

C-G’s Brady Elbert came off the bench to bank in two 3-pointers, including one in the fourth after South got to within 47-44 with 5:15 left.

“We were really cognizant in practice about not letting them get run-outs, and they get a ton of them,” said McCloud, whose Trojans beat South 59-52 on Dec. 3. “They didn’t get a lot of run-outs out of their 1-3-1 [zone]. Credit to our guys. What [South] does best, we wouldn’t let them do it.”

South’s David McFadden had 10 points, including two 3-pointers, on 4-of-8 shooting and two steals. Nick Stowasser scored only one point but had nine rebounds.

“We fought back,” LePage. “I give our guys credit because Cary’s really physical. We just needed one more stop and a made 3. We just couldn’t make a lot of shots, but a lot of that was Cary’s defense.”