Glenbard East denies Glenbard North

Basketball games are never won in the first quarter alone, but teams can certainly put themselves in a much better position to leave the gym victorious.

The Glenbard East boys basketball team gave itself just such an opportunity Tuesday night, jumping all over Glenbard North with a 14-3 run in the opening quarter en route to a 71-51 win on the second day of the District 87 boys basketball tournament at Glenbard West.

"We tried to come out and put pressure on them, and fortunately we caused some turnovers early," Glenbard East coach Scott Miller said. "Just come out and play with a lot of energy at this point."

The Rams (2-0) forced 9 Glenbard North turnovers in the first quarter, translating to a 23-13 lead after one.

"Just hustle, communication on defense, being on the same page," senior forward Lee Skinner said. "That's what we work for; our chemistry helps us a lot."

"Energy was our main thing coming out," junior guard Zach Miller said. "We didn't want to come out flat and have them come out and take over."

Despite the early deficit, the Panthers (1-1) continued to chip away at the Glenbard East lead. A James Fleming free throw early in the second quarter pulled Glenbard North within 25-20, but the Panthers could creep no closer than that.

"When you get hit like that with a 14-3 run right off the start, you've got to just relax a little bit and just play basketball," Glenbard North coach Joe Larson said. "We started to do that, we started working the ball a little bit, and we started getting to the free-throw line."

Unfortunately, the Panthers failed to convert first-half trips to the free-throw line into points. Glenbard North sank just 3 of its 13 free-throw attempts in the first half, compared to 12 of 18 for the Rams.

In addition to capitalizing at the free-throw line, Glenbard East also dominated the glass. A frontcourt featuring the 6-foot-7 Skinner and 6-6 Shawn Havenga gave the Rams plenty of second-chance opportunities on offense.

"We were trying to pound the inside, and then when they doubled down, kick it out to me, Jack (Merrithey) and Jon (Hill)," Zach Miller said.

"Our perimeter shooting was right on point," Skinner said. "That helps us out a lot in the post game and opens some things up."