Intensity sparks Hinsdale Central past Glenbard West

Hinsdale Central boys basketball coach Lee Maciejewski believes his team's intensity should never vary from game to game but rather remain at a constant high no matter the situation.

So Maciejewski looked to have his Red Devils approach Friday night's West Suburban Silver opener at Glenbard West the same as any other contest.

"If you're playing the (Harlem) Globetrotters, if you're playing the (Los Angeles) Lakers or if you're playing the Little Sisters of the Poor, you should come out with the same intensity every night," Maciejewski said. "If you can muster more enthusiasm to play against somebody else, that means that you haven't been working hard enough before."

It appeared Hinsdale Central had been working hard all season, as the Red Devils jumped out to a 32-19 halftime lead and coasted to a 58-38 victory in Glen Ellyn.

Hinsdale Central (3-1, 1-0) turned a 13-10 lead after one into a 21-10 advantage thanks to four consecutive turnovers to begin the second quarter.

Senior guard Nick Kladis netted five of his game-high 16 points in the second quarter as his team ramped up the defensive intensity.

"We just knew in the first quarter we had a little more left to give, and as long as we tried a little harder we knew we could stretch the lead out," Kladis said. "We just beared down a little bit, stretched the lead out and never looked back after that."

The outcome hardly surprised Maciejewski.

"We didn't do anything special," he said. "We stayed the course on what we were trying to do.

"The game played out the way we thought it would, so there was no need for us to make any adjustment (defensively). We just got a little more aggressive."

A Terry Brennan steal and breakaway layup pushed the Red Devils' lead to 44-24 with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter - a quarter in which Glenbard West (0-5, 0-1) committed 8 turnovers and finished trailing 49-29.

"They just picked up the intensity defensively on the perimeter, and we just didn't respond," Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder said. "We needed to make the back cuts and be strong with the ball, and we just didn't really handle that very well."

With a trio of sophomores in his starting lineup, Hoder acknowledged youth played a role in the turnovers but stopped short of using it as an excuse.

"There's no doubt that puts us in a disadvantage, but at the same time we knew they were going to do that," he said. "We've been working on that, so in that regard it's disappointing."