Glenbard East rolls past WW South

While Glenbard East’s boys basketball team looked in midseason form, Wheaton Warrenville South seemed closer to preseason form.

The Rams began their defense of the DuPage Valley Conference title with an impressive 78-56 win over short-handed WW South Friday in Lombard.

Glenbard East (4-0, 1-0) has hit the ground running with Illinois State-bound forward Johnny Hill and Northern Illinois-bound point guard Zach Miller leading the way. They combined for 45 points and eight 3-pointers as the Rams used a 21-2 run to seize a 29-13 lead early in the second quarter.

“We’re just doing a real good job of running on teams, coming out with confidence and playing together,” said Hill, who scored a game-high 25 points. “But I think we’ve still got a lot of stuff we need to work on. We need to keep building off of this and I think we’ll be in good shape.”

The Tigers (2-3, 0-1), meanwhile, are still recovering from winning the Class 7A football championship last week.

All-Area point guard Reilly O’Toole saw his first action of the season Friday, scoring 6 points in limited minutes, while several other football players did not suit up. Guard Travis Kern is out with a broken collarbone.

Despite the adversity Tigers coach Mike Healy was pleased with his team’s effort and is anxious to see the improvement between now and the rematch with Glenbard East in late January in Wheaton.

“This was a good day for us,” Healy said. “We’re not at a point right now where we can beat a team like Glenbard East. I thought we competed hard out there. Our bench was into the game. I’m proud of the effort.”

WW South held its own for the first four minutes, holding an 11-8 lead until Glenbard East struck with the 21-2 run. The Rams knocked down eight of their 11 3-pointers in the first half, hitting 16 of 29 shots from the field.

Ten players scored for Glenbard East while Kevin Bridges paced the Tigers with 15 points.

“We feel like we’re getting better and better, but one of the things we’re talking about is to not be satisfied,” said Rams coach Scott Miller. “Defensively, and on the glass we feel like we can get a lot better, but fortunately we shot the ball well tonight.”