Barrington escapes with win over Prairie Ridge

Maybe the impromptu practice wasn't such a good thing for the Broncos.

With Prairie Ridge still en route to Monday's 4:30 p.m. game at Mundelein, Barrington coach Marty Dello put his troops through a brief yet highly instructive drill on how to break the full-court press.

Seventeen turnovers and 32 minutes of far-from-midseason basketball later, the Broncos escaped with a 40-38 win in their final game at the Mundelein Thanksgiving Tournament after junior Sam Ojuri blocked a potential game-tying 15-footer from Mike Ungari at the buzzer.

"To be honest, (Prairie Ridge) showing up late, I knew that was going to take the wind out of our sails," Dello said. "I was worried we might come out a little bit flat."

And the Broncos sure did. Barrington (3-2) coughed it up five times in the opening quarter and made only two field goals in the first eight-plus minutes -- a short jumper in the lane from Charlie Douglas (6 points) and a layup from junior Mack Darrow.

"It plays with your mind," Darrow said of the delay that forced the Broncos to wait until 5:05 for tip-off. "It's not good standing around. You have a lot of time to think about what you have to do."

The Wolves (1-4), who thought the game started at 6 and didn't leave their school until 4, looked sharp defensively in the first quarter.

Up 6-2 early following a rebound-putback by Bryan McGinn (game-high 14 points) and a steal and layup by Ungari (11 points), Prairie Ridge was also doing a solid job of negating the Broncos' decided height advantage. Namely the 6-foot-7 Darrow, 6-6 junior Peter Leonard and Douglas, a 6-4 senior.

"They're a big team, we're little," said Prairie Ridge coach Corky Card of a squad that boasts five starters 6-2 and under. "Heck, I was happy to be in the game. We've had six 5-on-5 practices."

Leonard, who sprained his left ankle two weeks ago in a scrimmage and was initially told he'd be out at least four weeks, didn't look like he'd missed any time on the practice floor. The left-hander scored all 8 of his points in the second half on a nice variety of drop steps and turnarounds.

"To have him back is tremendous," Darrow said. "It opens up the whole offense."

With Barrington leading 39-38 with 10.8 seconds left, Darrow tipped the ball back to senior Billy Parry, after Parry missed back-to-back free throws. Fouled again with 7.7 seconds remaining, Parry (6 points) split the free throws for the game's final margin.

"The bottom line is Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, our practices are going to be a lot more intense," Dello said. "A lot more intense than this game."