First-year Cary-Grove boys basketball coach Adam McCloud is attempting to create a winning and positive culture around his program.

The Trojans took a step in the right direction with a 38-33 win over Dundee-Crown in a Fox Valley Conference tilt in Cary Wednesday night.

Off Cary-Grove’s constant defensive pressure, Dundee-Crown shot 29 percent from the field, connecting on 14-of-46 from the floor. The Chargers converted only 1-of-10 from 3-point range for 10 percent and committed 23 turnovers.

“I thought we did a great job of switching on defense and we did a great job of trapping,” said McCloud, “It was overall a very good defensive effort. We want to get better every game and we want to be playing our best basketball when the regionals start at the end of February.”

The Trojans (5-3, 2-2) were lifted by buzzer-beater 3-pointers to end the first quarter and first half.

Sam Carhart buried a 3-pointer from 30-feet to end the first quarter to give the Trojans a 9-6 lead after 8 minutes.

Danny Clarke repeated Carhart’s heroics to end the first half by canning a 3-pointer to give Cary-Grove a 20-15 advantage at intermission.

“Both shots by Sam and Danny were huge boosts to the team,” said McCloud. “They gave us great energy.”

Clarke, who missed the first four 3s he shot, ended with 3 treys and 9 points. Zach Beaugureau, who was 5-for-6 from the free throw line shared team-scoring honors with Clarke at 9 points.

“After I missed my first four 3s coach told me to keep shooting that my next 3 would fall,” said Clarke. “The 3 I made at the end of the half was huge. “

Tariq Burns and reserve Brad Stec paced the Chargers with 10 points apiece.

D-C coach Lance Huber praised Stec’s effort off the bench.

“Brad gave us a great contribution off the bench, “said Huber. “He made some big plays and he can play a lot of positions. He listens to the coaching staff and is very coachable.”

The Trojans’ biggest lead of the game was 29-19 after a driving layup by Carhart with 1:34 left in the third quarter.

The Chargers responded by scoring the final 4 points of the quarter on a layup by Sean Jay and 2 free throws from Stec to whittle the Trojans’ lead to 29-23 after 24 minutes.

The Chargers (2-6, 1-3) climbed to within a point, 34-33, with 43 seconds left on a free throw by Brett Buske. But that was the Chargers’ last point of the night.

Carhart and Beaugureau collected 2 free throws each in the waning moments to seal the win.