C-G comes back, bounces Broncos
The first 20 minutes were absolutely frightful for Cary-Grove's offense Saturday.
But the last 13 minutes of stifling man-to-man defense were positively delightful for the Trojans.
The latter helped turn a 10-point deficit into a 55-43 victory over Barrington in their Jacobs Golden Eagle Classic boys basketball tournament opener in Algonquin.
"When you're behind you've got to do it defensively and that's what we were able to do," said Cary-Grove coach Ralph Schuetzle. "Once we started hitting some 3s it gave us confidence and we were able to get a good win for us."
Cary-Grove (6-3) overcame a 32-22 deficit 3:04 after intermission by allowing only 7 points the next 12½ minutes.
Barrington (5-7) committed 9 of its 17 turnovers, shot just 5-for-17 from the field and missed all 8 of its 3-point attempts in the second half.
"We got after them a lot," said Cary-Grove senior Mark Tometich. "We didn't give them any time to do what they wanted."
And the Trojans started finding what they were looking for against Barrington's variety of zone defenses. Tometich scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the final 4:15 of the third quarter and his 22-footer gave them a 36-34 lead they never lost.
Tometich's twin brother Paul picked it up in the fourth with 10 of his 17 points and a pair of 3s as Cary-Grove pulled away to a 55-41 lead.
"We got inside-out shots and started hitting more shots," Mark Tometich said after making only 2 of his first 7 shots but missing just 1 of his last 6 tries. "I was happy to finally connect in the second half."
The Trojans also got a spark off the bench from senior Dan Bartz, who scored 7 points and started their comeback with a layup.
"Hopefully that gets him going a little bit," Schuetzle said. "He's had a slow start and I think this might be a breakout game confidence-wise for him."
Barrington broke to leads of 17-7 after a quarter and 32-22 behind 6-foot-6 Mack Darrow (14 points on 6-for-9 shooting, 6 rebounds) and 10 points off the bench from Billy Parry.
But the game took a turn for the worse for the Broncos when Daniel Evers picked up his second and third fouls the first two minutes after halftime and went to the bench.
"From that point on we forgot how to start an offense," said Barrington coach Marty Dello. "You can't win no matter who you play if you don't run an offense.
"Guys are starting to figure out if they do it my way and (assistant) coach (Bill) Bell's way they have a lot of success. If they do it their way they don't have a lot of success."