Glenbard West enjoys progress

For Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder, Tuesday’s 51-44 victory against cross-town rival Glenbard South had plenty of meaning.

“It was a great win for us,” Hoder said. “It was big for us.

“More importantly, we really made some strides since (Monday’s 70-47 loss to Glenbard North), because we really played poorly yesterday. Win or lose, I would’ve felt good about the strides we made between yesterday and today.”

The key was the way the Hilltoppers executed their offense.

“Today I thought we moved the ball much better, showed a little patience, shot more shots in the paint,” Hoder said. “We were just more in control of ourselves offensively.”

The game was even most of the way, with the Hilltoppers only pulling away a little in the final minute.

Michael Mache led the way, scoring 29 points for the Hilltoppers (1-1).

“Michael can score,” Hoder said. “He’s big and he’s strong and he can jump and he finishes and he’s a great free-throw shooter. He does so many good things.

“Part of it is figuring out when to attack and when not to attack, but I thought he did a much better job tonight deciding when to make his moves and when to reverse the ball. I thought he played real well tonight.”

Joe Harks led Glenbard South (0-2) with 17 points and Dusko Despot added 10, but offense was a struggle for the Raiders.

“We talked about it in the preseason,” Raiders coach Wade Hardtke said. “Our best offense is going to be our defense. We’ve got to work to figure that out. We’ve got to be more patient offensively. Right now we don’t shoot the ball well enough to be shooting the ball as early as we have.”

It wasn’t easy to play the patient Hilltoppers one night after playing run-and-gun Glenbard East.

“We had a tough time shifting gears into something more our speed,” Hardtke said.