Merrithey, Miller lift Glenbard East with 3-point shooting
The 3-point shot offers a couple of benefits to a basketball team.
The first is tangible - 3 points for one trip through the hoop - while the second is harder to quantify - the psychological lift it gives the team making the shot.
Just ask Glenbard East guard Jack Merrithey, who hit a quintet of 3-pointers in the Rams' 66-50 DuPage Valley Conference win at West Chicago on Friday night: "Anytime we hit a 3 we get jacked, we get the momentum," he said.
Friday's game proved that the shelf life of a 3-point boost can withstand the 10-minute break for halftime. With less than a minute to go in the second quarter, West Chicago's Charles Jacques tried to create some momentum for his squad as he drained a 3-pointer to pull the Wildcats (8-15, 2-9) within 29-25, but Glenbard East's Zach Miller stole it right back, banging in a 3 of his own in the final 10 seconds to send the Rams (16-5, 8-3) to the locker room with a 7-point lead.
It turned out that Miller's shot lit the fuse on a 21-2 run that would give Glenbard East an insurmountable 50-27 lead with just more than two minutes left in the third quarter.
It also helped that Glenbard East turned the defensive screws in that stretch as the Rams forced turnovers on West Chicago's first five possessions of the second half, and nine in the quarter, leading to easy baskets for Paul Sanders, Lee Skinner and Miller, who had 12 points in the decisive run.
"We were fortunate to have Zach hit that 3, but the first four minutes of the third quarter were our best four minutes of the game," said Glenbard East coach Scott Miller. "I was really happy with the pressure we put on the ball. That third quarter, it was pretty flawless."
On the other side West Chicago coach Kevin Gimre lamented the turnovers - the Wildcats would finish with 23 for the game - as well as the 15 offensive rebounds that the Rams grabbed as Sanders and Skinner combined for seven caroms off the offensive glass.
"Initially, they jumped to a big lead (17-7 at one point in the first quarter) and we did a nice job coming back, but coming out in the second half their offensive rebounding was very good," Gimre said. "They would miss and get the rebound; we had them for 20 second-chance points in the game."
The Wildcats were also hampered by the fact that they only had one Tyler Griffith to battle Glenbard East's Sanders and Skinner, who would combine for 27 points and 17 total rebounds. Griffith scored West Chicago's first 9 points of the game, but then he picked up a second foul and the Rams decided to give him more double-team attention, limiting him to just 2 baskets on 8 attempts and 7 points the rest of the way.
"We're feeling pretty good right now," Skinner said. "All of our momentum is good, the team chemistry is great, all we're gonna do is keep rolling."