Glenbard South falls into tie for first in Western Sun
Glenbard South's boys basketball team spent 10 games building a cushion atop the Western Sun Conference standings.
Now, the padding's gone.
The Raiders spent a long Friday night in DeKalb, taking a 50-33 pounding from the host Barbs to set up an interesting final two weeks in the WSC.
Glenbard South (15-6, 9-3) is now tied for first with Geneva, with DeKalb (13-10, 8-3) sitting a half game back but tied in the loss column.
Hampered by consecutive conference losses to Batavia and DeKalb, the Raiders can't afford to slip again in their final WSC games against Rochelle and Yorkville.
"When things started going bad, it just unraveled," said Raiders coach Wade Hardtke. "Defensively, I thought we played pretty well. But offensively, we were out of sync all night long."
In the first meeting Glenbard South beat the Barbs 82-73. Friday was a completely different story as the Raiders made 11 of 40 shots from the field and a horrific 8 of 21 free throws - including 1-of-11 second-half shooting.
The Raiders also were constantly pestered by 6-foot-10 Barbs junior center Jordan Threloff, who tallied 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 8 shots.
Beyond the blocked shots, Threloff altered many more.
"There was some good energy in the gym and everyone stepped up," said Threloff, who played with a protective covering on his face to shield a broken nose suffered last week. "We knew we had to win this to stay in the running for conference."
Glenbard South opened a 13-7 lead after one quarter, but the offensive nightmare began in earnest in the second quarter. The Raiders scored only 11 points in the middle periods, falling behind by as much as 37-22 late in the third quarter.
A 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter gave the Barbs a 43-24 lead. Glenbard South pulled within 43-30 but never came any closer. Jordan Harks scored 10 points for the Raiders while Ralondo Shumate had 8 points and 5 steals.
Glenbard South looks to bounce back from three losses in four games with tonight's home game against Wheaton Warrenville South. The main focus, though, is winning the last two Western Sun games and clinching at least a share of the program's first conference title since 2000.
"Now things are interesting," Hardtke said.
BOX SCORE
DeKalb 50, Glenbard South 33
Glenbard South - Shumate 2 2-2 8, Kuzniar 0 0-0 0, Harks 5 0-2 10, Erkins 1 3-6 5, Marshall 1 0-0 2, Childs 0 0-0 0, Rovansek 0 0-0 0, Mitchell 1 1-7 3, Bolton 0 0-2 0, Wanless 0 0-0 0, Ledwidge 0 2-2 2, Harris 1 0-0 3, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Tuttle 0 0-0 0, Sandquist 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 8-21 33.
DeKalb - McNeal 1 2-4 4, Calbow 1 0-0 2, Larson 2 0-0 5, Donnelly 2 0-1 5, olsen 1 1-3 4, Threloff 5 9-10 19, Franklin 1 3-4 5, Rourke 0 2-2 2, Teboda 0 0-0 0, Lane 2 0-0 4, Reynosa 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 17-24 50.
Glenbard South 13 5 6 9 -33
DeKalb 7 14 16 13 -50
3-point baskets: GS: Shumate 2, Harris. D: Larsen, Donnelly, Olson. Fouled out: None.