Glenbard East holds off O'Toole, WW South
With his Wheaton Warrenville South Tigers trailing by 14 points early in the fourth quarter of their game at Glenbard East, sophomore guard Reilly O'Toole decided he was going to single-handedly pull his team back in it.
Three-pointer after 3-pointer fell for O'Toole, including one that gave the Tigers a 60-58 lead with 1:06 left in the game.
Yet despite the 6-foot-3 sophomore's 19 fourth-quarter points, Glenbard East prevailed, squeaking out a 63-62 victory Friday night in Lombard. O'Toole finished with 24 points.
"They got hot; they shot the ball well," Rams coach Scott Miller said. "When we were up 12 with about four or five minutes left, we just didn't have a couple good offensive possessions, and that's the key.
"They pressured us and we didn't execute, and that allowed them to make a little bit of a run and obviously make it very close."
After a pair of Zach Miller free throws put Glenbard East (15-5, 7-3 DuPage Valley Conference) ahead 63-60 with 31 seconds remaining, O'Toole drew a foul beyond the 3-point arc with a chance to pull the Tigers back to even. He converted on the first two before missing the third, and despite four missed free throws in the last 30 seconds by Glenbard East, the Tigers (14-7, 6-4) couldn't find the net again.
A layup attempt inside 10 seconds and a half-court heave both missed their mark, giving the Rams the season sweep.
Wheaton Warrenville South's defense let the game slip away in the third quarter, as the Rams shot 64 percent from the floor and outscored the visitors 19-10.
"I think they're the toughest team to defend because all five of their starters can score," Wheaton Warrenville South coach Mike Healy said. "All five of them can put up 20 points on any given night, and we talked about how it's got to be a mental focus every single defensive possession."
"It was just our team defense," O'Toole said of the Tigers' comeback. "We got some rebounds, and we just started hitting our shots.
"We were confident the whole time, just thinking we were going to win."
Glenbard East senior Paul Sanders tied Zach Miller for a team-high 16 points, as the Rams' ability to exploit their advantage in the paint proved to be a major difference.
"At the end of the third (quarter) and beginning of the fourth, we got their big guys in foul trouble," Sanders said. "They brought in a small lineup, we saw it, and we had to run plays for me and (center) Lee (Skinner).
"We did good making our baskets and going to the free-throw line."