Raiders go deep

Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke has a deep bench this season, and he likes to use it plenty.

It was that deep bench that came in quite handy Tuesday night as the Raiders knocked off host Glenbard West (1-1) 45-40 for their second straight win at the District 87 boys basketball tournament. Glenbard South used 11 players in the contest, including 9 in the first quarter alone, while tallying 18 points off the bench.

For most of the night it appeared as if the fresh legs would enable Glenbard South to pull away from a Glenbard West squad missing 6-foot-8 center John Shurna, who's out with a thumb injury. But the Hilltoppers chopped a 35-24 deficit after three quarters down to 44-40 in a wild final minute before coming up just short.

Raiders guard Louis Erkins saw to it that his team hung on for its second win without a loss, a markedly better start than last year's team provided. Erkins finished with 9 points, 4 assists and 4 steals.

"We practiced all summer long on defense," Erkins said. "It's the key to our team. We look to our defense to lead the way and we want to hold teams to 50 points. Now we're 2-0 and I think it took us about two months to win two games last year."

Even with Shurna out of the lineup, the Hilltoppers were tough inside with 6-4 Chris Watt muscling his way to 7 points and 4 offensive boards and forward Brian Emmanuel recording a team-leading 8 boards before fouling out with one second left on the clock and the score 44-40 Glenbard South.

"It feels good that we made a run at them late, but we were out of sync all night," said Emmanuel, a 6-2 junior. "Even without our best play we still did OK, but when we get him back we'll be even better."

Hardtke's squad led 23-16 at the half after scoring 7 straight points. Sam Mitchell came off the bench to score 7 of his 9 points in the first two quarters, and Brian Smith added 6 points. Will Hill and Ralando Schumate each had a pair of steals off the bench as the Raiders pressured the Hilltoppers into 14 first-half turnovers and 25 all told.

"We're scrappy and our depth allows us to do that," Hardtke said of his team's tough defense. "We can keep coming at teams and we wear them down. We focus on defense because of our lankiness and our depth."

Glenbard West showed some depth of its own with eight players scoring in the game, led by Bryant Venson's 9 points. Shane Bryant and Watt each added 7, but the Hilltoppers were eventually done in by too many turnovers.

"The kids really played hard at the end and hung in there," Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder said. "But South did a great job of pressuring us and they were able to take us out of what we wanted to do."