Barrington had a team meeting Friday night about what it would take to get rolling.
The Broncos took a big step in the right direction Monday afternoon in the Jacobs Holiday Classic boys basketball tournament in Algonquin.
Double-doubles by senior guard Tyler Weathered and 6-foot-5 senior reserve Lukas Osmundsen led the Broncos (7-5) to a 67-56 victory over St. Charles North in a rematch of last year’s title game in Algonquin.
“It seemed like everyone stepped up their game,” said Weathered, who matched his career high of 25 points and had 10 rebounds. “We said (after a 63-50 loss to Conant) we need to play into our roles as a team.
“Before we were trying to step out of our roles. We really came together today and everyone played their role.”
Osmundsen, a transfer from Sweden, added 15 points and 10 rebounds as the defending champion Broncos bounced back from Saturday’s heart-breaking buzzer-beating loss to Crystal Lake South. They finish pool play at 1:30 p.m. today against Prairie Ridge.
“I was really proud of how the kids bounced back,” said Broncos coach Bryan Tucker.
“We’ve had some tough games,” Osmundsen said. “We knew we had to step up as a team and go at these guys hard and that’s what we did.”
Barrington was without 11˝-point averager Greg Gerrard for the third straight game with a sprained ankle. Weathered and Osmundsen carried the first-half offense with 17 and 8 points respectively for a 31-22 lead.
In the second half, sophomores Scott Nelson and Brad Zaumseil combined for 15 points as the North Stars never got closer than 31-26.
“We got guys comfortable and I felt we got pretty good shots,” Tucker said.
Quinten Payne had 18 points on 6-for-20 shooting, Chris Conrad had 17 points and Josh Mikes added 12 and 9 rebounds for the North Stars.
“The guys have shown in spurts they can play St. Charles North basketball and when they do that, lo and behold, they’ve been successful,” said coach Tom Poulin. “When you play open gym basketball, you get beat.
“We need to figure things out real quick or we’ll be a .500 ballclub and have some regrets when we’re done.”
