Waubonsie Valley 62, Glenbard East 43

Now that's the finishing kick of a group of Waubonsie Valley seniors not ready to call it a career.

A 13-2 Warriors run in the fourth quarter blew open a close boys basketball game with Glenbard East on Tuesday in Aurora.

The No. 2 seed Warriors went on to a 62-43 win over the No. 15 seed Rams at the Class 4A Waubonsie Valley regional.

"We usually don't put them away early. But at the end we put teams away," said Warriors senior Justin Peaster, who had a game-high 18 points. "As a senior I know I don't want to go home early."

Fellow seniors Kevin VandenBerg scored 12 points and Josh Daniels 10 and junior Jelani Johnson had 10 points and 9 rebounds for Waubonsie Valley (21-6), which will play York or Oswego East in Friday's regional final.

A title there can erase any bitter taste of an Upstate Eight Conference championship the Warriors lost out on last weekend.

"If we win that regional we'll forget about that conference championship that slipped away," Waubonsie Valley coach Steve Weemer said.

Glenbard East (13-14), which dug an 11-3 hole after a quarter, hung tough after that, switching up defenses from zone to man to keep Waubonsie Valley in check.

The Rams trailed 19-14 at the half and 34-31 with 1:59 left in the third quarter after a Tom Seagraves score.

Daniels answered with a jumper and Peaster's 3-pointer put Waubonsie Valley up 39-32 heading into the fourth.

The Warriors caught fire from there, hitting 9 of their first 10 shots in the fourth quarter. VandenBerg fed Tyler Castro for a layup with 6:22 for a 47-33 lead to finish off the 13-2 run.

"That zone kind of stifled us for a while," Weemer said, "but finally our guys got into some gaps and hit some shots and got our energy going.

"But the biggest key is I think our defense wore them down a little bit. We need to guard like that if we're going to make a run here."

"In that stretch they went for the jugular, and they got it," Glenbard East coach Scott Miller said.

Freshman Zach Miller and junior Paul Sanders each scored 11 points for Glenbard East, all of Miller's points coming in the second half. Derak Stanback and Seagraves added 8.

"I'm proud of our kids. They didn't quit," coach Miller said. "The future is bright here. We have a lot of guys coming back and a lot of guys got experience this year."