Defense keys Glenbard South win over Fenton
Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke had evidence to put in front of his team during their postgame meeting Friday night at Fenton that proved that when good defense is played, good things happen.
That evidence was a 50-45 victory over the Bison in which the Raiders’ defense was solid and generated enough offense for Glenbard South to move to 4-2 in the Metro Suburban Conference and 5-11 overall.
“When we needed to step it up and get it going, we did it with defense,” Hardtke said. “In the first half we went on a run because of defense and in the second half, we put together a run because of our defense.”
After Fenton’s Greg Wagner hit net to give Fenton a 14-12 advantage with 5:19 until halftime, the Raiders finished the second quarter on a 10-4 run to lead 24-16 at intermission.
Late in the third quarter, free throws from the Bison’s Patrick Wilk and Brad Leffew put Fenton up 33-30 with just less than two minutes to play.
Glenbard South then followed with a 17-8 run that went well into the fourth quarter.
A free throw by Fenton’s Demarcus Stone put the Bison to within 48-45 with 5.8 seconds remaining, but two free throws from the Raiders’ Chaun Rickette, who scored a game-high 22 points, dried the ink on the outcome.
Rickette was definitely the top priority of the Fenton defense. He went 12-of-16 from the free-throw line as evidence. He said double- and triple-teams are just a fact of life.
“My main focus should be trying not to force anything. That’s why I have teammates to back me up. If I have two, three players on me, I can kick it back to them. But if I’m going to draw the foul, I’m going to take the shot,” he said.
Mark Murbach scored 8 points for Glenbard South and Tim Marshall 7.
Fenton dropped to 4-14, 2-3 but showed more life offensively than in recent days. Coach Joshua Payton said the team needs to continue to learn consistency on offense.
“We need to be competitive early on and string it together the entire game,” he said. The Bison scored just four points in the first quarter but outscored the Raiders 29-26 during the final two quarters.
Stone led the team with 12 points. Wagner had 8.
Fenton had a quick turnaround with a 10:30 game against Marian Central on Saturday morning at the Rockford Jefferson Martin Luther King holiday tournament. The Bison face Richards at 5 p.m.
The tournament continues Monday for the Bison with games against Evergreen Park and New Trier.