Bartlett beats Wheaton North 82-73

Trailing by six points instead of eight heading into the fourth quarter doesn't seem like a big deal.

But Bartlett junior Luke Labedzki's offensive putback at the third-quarter buzzer Saturday changed the momentum and the game. The buzzer-beating basket sparked a 20-5 as the Hawks erased an 8-point deficit and went on to beat visiting Wheaton North, 82-73.

"For Luke to knock that little tip-in down really changed the feeling coming back to the bench," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith.

"Anything like that to change the momentum is huge." The Falcons (5-10) took a 42-35 lead into halftime thanks to hitting 7 3-pointers in the first two quarters.

The Hawks' Kevin Gates scored 7 points in the first 70 seconds of the third quarter as Bartlett (9-5) tied the game at 42-42. Wheaton North led 56-48 with 2:50 remaining in the third before the Hawks went on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 56-54.

The Falcons responded with their own 6-0 run to take a 62-54 lead with 6.2 seconds left after two free throws from Mike Small, who scored a team-hight 18 points. Labedzki put back a Frankie Cleope miss as the buzzer sounded to cut the Falcons' lead to 62-56, but more importantly gave Bartlett some confidence.

"Wheaton North was making its shots and had most of the momentum," Labedzki said. "(The basket) was really important. We got the momentum back and finished it off in the fourth."

The Hawks' Marc Little, who had only 2 points in the opening three quarters, scored six points in the 2 1/2 minutes of the fourth, the final basket gave Bartlett a 64-63 lead, its first lead since 13-12 in the first quarter.

Little, a senior guard, continued to take control. Two more baskets, two free throws and a steal from Little that led to an easy layup for Mike Banks capped a 20-5 run that gave the Hawks a 74-67 advantage. Wheaton North would not get any closer than 4.

"We didn't stop them in the fourth quarter," Falcons coach Jim Nazos said. "You have to be able withstand runs. You've got to be able to stop teams when you need stops." Labedzki led all scorers with 24 points, 19 in the second half. Little finished with 14 points, 12 in the fourth quarter, and 12 assists. Gates added 13 points and Greg Partyka had 10, all in the first half. Mike Fitzpatrick had 14 points for the Falcons.