Glenbard East struggles past WW South

It's hard to rush the growth process, no matter how much you try.

Playing in both teams' DuPage Valley Conference opener Friday night, Glenbard East left Wheaton with a 61-51 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South, but both also went home looking forward to improvements yet to come.

"We didn't come out aggressive like we needed to," Rams coach Scott Miller said. "I don't know if it's not playing for 10 days. They just took it to us right away, and I didn't think we responded very well. We did take a lead, but I didn't think we executed offensively or defensively very well. We've got to get better."

"Obviously, we're not where we're hopefully going to be," added Tigers coach Mike Healy. "That's sometimes hard for the coaching staff and sometimes hard for the kids. You want to comepete and you want to be successful every time you put the uniform on. We need to see the big picture, all of us."

Maybe the cause was a little rust from the layoff and maybe it was normal early-season woes.

"I thought we were a little farther ahead at this point than we showed tonight," Miller said, "but it is early, and we've got to be able to sustain some stretches."

The Tigers got off to a good start, taking an 8-3 lead, but Jon Hill's steal and breakaway dunk at the buzzer gave the Rams the lead for good. He followed that up with two more steals to start the second quarter that led to 3 points.

"It was a real momentum-builder for us," Hill said. "Guys were feeding off that energy and just going out there and wanting to play, and I think that was real important for us."

"He had some really good stretches individually," Miller added, "but then he would put himself in a bad situation by having a silly foul and having to take him out. That was indicative of us as a whole."

Second-ranked Glenbard East (4-0, 1-0) took a double-digit lead into halftime and stretched it to 17 in the third quarter. The Tigers whittled the margin down to 10 points but could get no closer.

Several of the Tigers played in last weekend's Class 7A football championship victory, but only a couple of them saw time of the bench Friday.

"It's not an even playing field right off the bat when you're counting on some of those football guys, but I think long term we're going to be just fine."

Rams forward Lee Skinner led all scorers with 19 points and added 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. Hill scored 16 points and finished with 5 steals, and guard Zach Miller added 9 points and 7 assists.

Derek Babb scored 15 points for the Tigers (3-2, 0-1) and Will Dolatowski added 14.