Glenbard West takes victory away from Lyons

A lot of athletic competition is give and take. In the second half Glenbard West took it to Lyons Township.

Allowing the host Lions an 11-point lead by early in the third quarter, Glenbard West turned aggressor in a 38-16 run that led to the Hilltoppers' 68-63 West Suburban Silver victory in LaGrange.

Dave McCaffrey, who had failed to crack double digits until Friday night, led Glenbard West with 19 points, while backcourt partner in crime Bryant Venson scored 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Lyons (3-4, 0-2) led 43-39 at the start of the fourth quarter when a driving McCaffrey, his back to the basket, banked in a left-handed toss as he was fouled.

"It was kind of a funky play," he said.

Whatever works.

"That's when we really started getting everything going," the senior said. "We'd been down, like, 10 in the third quarter, so that was kind of the spark that got everyone going."

McCaffrey converted the three-point play, one of three Glenbard West (3-5, 2-1) executed in the fourth quarter - joining Venson and Tyler Warden - to go with 16-of-23 free-throw shooting.

"We were in prime position to win a basketball game and then just completely broke down defensively," said Lions coach Tom Sloan, in his first season at Lyons Twp. after seven at Montini. "They had probably three or four three-point play opportunities. It was like a highway to the basket."

Glenbard West committed 8 turnovers and shot 8 of 25 from the floor in a first half Lyons led 26-20. In the second half the Hilltoppers committed 5 turnovers, forced 7 and made 15 of 21 shot attempts.

"We wanted it probably more than they did," said Venson, who snagged 2 fourth-quarter steals. "We just picked it up in the second half. We got to the free-throw line."

Kevin Muldowney led Lyons with 16 points and Colin Allodi scored 15. Forward Justin Phipps scored 11 points with 16 rebounds, 8 of them offensive.

Jud Anderson chipped in 11 points for Glenbard West. Warden scored 10 to help the Hilltoppers snap a 1-3 slide.

"I think we needed to attack more," said Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder. "We've been getting some bad starts in the third quarter. The last couple games we've come out really flat, so we really focused on just attacking."