Start not bad for Barrington

ROCKFORD - Consider this an encouraging start for the Barrington boys basketball program.

It certainly wasn't an easy one for the Broncos and new head coach Bryan Tucker as they opened their season against the state-ranked hosts of the Rockford Boylan Thanksgiving Tournament.

But they also made the Titans work to the end to get a 73-65 victory Wednesday night.

"The kids didn't fold and kept battling and fighting," Tucker said after the Broncos didn't let a potential runaway happen against the Titans, who were ranked ninth in the Associated Press Class 4A preseason poll.

"The third quarter got away from us," said Barrington 6-foot-3 senior Ben Bartz, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds. "But I like how we fought back in the fourth quarter. We definitely showed we could hang in there."

The Broncos also showed it in the first half even though senior starting guard Bryan Wegner, their most experienced returnee, and sophomore John Schneider were hampered by foul trouble.

But a nice stretch late in the half gave the Broncos a chance to go to intermission even with the perennial state power. Bartz made a nice backdoor feed against heavy pressure to junior Greg Gerrard (15 points) for a layup.

Bartz then drew the first of two charging fouls. Gerrard got a 3-point play off a baseline drive and followed with a right-lane drive.

Now it was 30-27 and the Broncos, who played exclusively man-to-man defense, got the ball back.

But one of their 25 turnovers led to a drive 12 seconds before the break by quick junior guard Chris Miller (13 points).

"I told them we'd make some mistakes tonight but to make sure we were aggressive and play with confidence," Tucker said, "and respond when things don't go our way."

Everything kept going the taller Titans' way the first 81/2 minutes after the break. They parlayed 10 turnovers into a 62-38 lead behind 6-7 Nick Bauch (15 points, 9 rebounds), Steve Thomas (10 points), Kieran Jansen (12 points) and 6-5 Jason Painter (9 points, 8 rebounds).

But what was also encouraging for the Broncos was their rally didn't allow the Titans get comfortable enough to empty their bench. Bartz scored 12 points and James Stack six of his 15 in the last eight minutes.

"We're making progress every day in practice and we've come a long way the last two weeks," Bartz said.

"That's a really talented team we faced tonight," Tucker said. "I'm really pleased with a lot I saw tonight on the court from our team."

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com