Seniors lead Glenbard South past Wheaton Academy

Before Tuesday's game against Wheaton Academy, Glenbard South's senior boys basketball players gathered in the office of athletic director Tim Carlson to reminisce over a pizza dinner.

Once their senior night game tipped off, the focus shifted to turnovers dished up by man-to-man defense. With the likes of lanky, 6-foot-4 Johnny LaPonte and physical Kyle Carli hassling the Warriors, the 18 turnovers Glenbard South created led to a 72-50 Metro Suburban Conference West Division victory in Glen Ellyn.

"I think this is a great momentum shifter for us," coach Wade Hardtke said after Glenbard South (17-9, 8-4) earned second place in the Metro Suburban West.

"We were able to really crank it up a notch or two and that really just seemed to flow right into our offense as well," he said.

The Raiders remembered Wheaton Academy's 64-55 win on Feb. 3, in which the Warriors (11-15, 6-6) shot 26 fourth-quarter free throws and four Glenbard South players fouled out.

"After last game we've had this one marked on our calendar. We've been pretty serious in practice all week looking forward to get them back," said 13-point scorer Tim Marks, who joined the assault with fellow seniors Carli, Billy Bair, Jonathan Walker, Povilas Riauba, Cullen Cuchetto and LaPonte, who led all scorers with 18 points and collected 4 steals.

"We were working a lot in practice on getting up in the passing lanes to try and force turnovers and turn defense into offense," said LaPonte, 3 for 3 on 3-point shots.

Between transition buckets and inside power from 6-5 junior Charlie Bair, who scored 12 points with 8 rebounds, Glenbard South turned a 4-3 deficit into a 17-9 lead after one quarter. Six offensive rebounds, 2 apiece by the Bair brothers, helped set the tone.

Wheaton Academy's Luke Manske, Dan Vasko, Anthony Polinski, J.D. Gunn, 11-point scorer Sam Scharnowski and, later, sophomore Stephen Garrison all shot the ball well. But with 16 turnovers through three quarters, just not enough.

Trailing by a still-manageable 38-25 at halftime, Wheaton Academy got on the wrong end of a 17-2 third-quarter run during which Glenbard South caused five turnovers and a missed 3 on six defensive possessions to go up 59-31.

There would be no comeback.

"Turnovers haven't been our friend all year, and it's just tough for us to stay in games when you give teams extra possessions from turning the ball over, and extra possessions from offensive boards," Warriors coach David Osborn.