Cochrane clinches Glenbard West win at line

There was definitely precedent for Chris Cochrane to miss from the foul line with 3.4 seconds left.

Glenbard West made only 13 of 28 free throws on Saturday against West Chicago, 6 of 18 in the fourth quarter.

Instead the tall, cool senior hit the shot that meant victory, 49-48 over a driven West Chicago squad to cap Day One at the seventh annual Glenbard West Holiday Classic.

"I'm not the best free-throw shooter out there, but I knew I needed to make that one," Cochrane said. "The first one, too. I'm like, 'I've got to make this free throw.' I'm really glad I did. I actually didn't think that one was going to go in, but it went in."

The second one didn't, giving Wildcats coach Kevin Gimre a chance to craft a miracle. Two timeouts, 84 feet and 2.3 seconds later he and his players got the shot they wanted - a good, open 3-point attempt that bounced off the rim.

There may be no moral victories, but this was darn close.

"I said, everything you did execution wise, you listened, you did the things we asked you to," Gimre said. "We talked about some of our mistakes, but we'll hopefully correct those. Had the shot at the end because they didn't hit free throws and gave us a chance. It was a great game."

Glenbard West (4-5) held leads of 33-26 in the third quarter and 46-41 with 3:30 left to play, but West Chicago (4-6) clawed back to tie at 48-48 with 13 seconds left.

Guard Chad Driscoll and center Tyler Griffith scored all 11 of the Wildcats' fourth-quarter points. Griffith converted the tying basket from a behind-the-back pass by a driving Driscoll.

"We came into the tournament knowing we had a pretty good chance of doing well in it," said Griffith, who led all players with 23 points and 11 rebounds. "We knew we were playing a good Glenbard West team tonight and did a pretty good job. (We) had the drive to win."

Tyler Warden led Glenbard West with 18 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 2:36 left to play.

Though the Hilltoppers missed four straight free throws after he left, the good news was with Friday's win over Lyons Twp. they left Biester Gymnasium with their first two-game win streak this season.

"It's a Friday-Saturday back-to-backer," said Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder. "They're not always going to be pretty."