Glenbard West 51, Hinsdale Central 46
You've got to hand it to John Shurna, said Hinsdale Central center Clay Foster.
Of course you do. While hounded by 6-foot-6 Rich Brennan and pounded by the 6-5, 220-pound Foster, Glenbard West's 6-8 senior had 22 points and 11 rebounds to pace a 51-46 West Suburban Silver win in Hinsdale.
The Hilltoppers' season, though, has been all about complementing Shurna's Division I talents. Saturday they found that balance.
"We got some point production out of some kids we haven't been getting some points from," coach Tim Hoder said.
Yes, Shurna's offensive rebound and putback gave Glenbard West a 48-46 lead with 1:25 to play. It was the last of 14 lead changes.
Before that came plays like Bryan Emmanuel's third-quarter 3 to stem a roll by Hinsdale Central (12-7, 3-4).
And Chris Watt's three-point play to start the fourth quarter to give a 36-35 lead to Glenbard West (10-8, 3-5).
Foster was fouled on a fastbreak basket and made the free throw for a 38-36 Red Devils lead, but Emmanuel answered with a three-point play of his own.
Bryant Venson also came up big. Cold off the bench, his 3 gave Glenbard West a 44-40 lead with 3:56 remaining.
"During halftime when I was shooting I wasn't feeling anything," Venson said.
"It wasn't dropping, but I just had confidence and my team kept encouraging me. I wasn't going to let my team down after we worked so hard for a win."
Hoder said, "We don't win this game without Bryant's shot."
They might also have fallen without 5-10 Dave McCaffrey's defensive rebound and 2 free throws for a 50-46 lead with 12.8 seconds left.
Hinsdale Central missed two 3-point shots in the last 6.6 seconds.
"I was a little nervous. It gets real loud," McCaffrey said. "But we take so many free throws in practice it's kind of like, 'Don't think about it, shoot it.' After I made the first one I felt a lot better."
Like Shurna, Foster had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Chris Chana scored 11 points to Jason Rafferty's 10, but after Hinsdale Central's emotional win Friday over rival and WSS leader Lyons Twp., this was a letdown.
"One hundred percent," Foster said. "We had so much energy going into last night, I thought we played our butts off and we came up with the 'W.' But tonight, for some reason they were the better team on the court."