Glenbard West finding its basketball legs

Glenbard West is rounding into basketball shape.

Beating Fenton 71-59 on the second day of their own Holiday Classic, the Hilltoppers won their second straight game after starting the season 0-8.

The football team's wild success did Glenbard West's basketball team no favors. On Monday, though, starters Jack Marston, Tommy Schutt and Tyler Warden, plus Nick Burrello off the bench, clicked with 6-foot-6 basketball-only sophomores Michael and Matthew Mache.

"Getting our legs back in that first week was just trial and error, see what's working and see if we can get up and down the court," said Warden, who scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. "But this second week, I think we're starting to put everything together. It's looking good."

Whether it was point guard Marston's precise inbounds passes for an easy look inside, a high-low post pass or a whiplash sequence from Schutt to Warden to Michael Mache, it looked good indeed.

"Definitely, everyone's starting to figure out their roles, everyone's starting to get into shape," said Michael Mache, who scored 20 points. Schutt, athletic and nose tackle-strong, scored 12.

Fenton (5-6) got a good push with Cody Meyer scoring 6 of his 12 points in the first seven minutes, but Matthew Mache gave the Hilltoppers a 17-12 lead on a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer.

Glenbard West's height and ball-sharing abilities pushed the lead to 41-25 at halftime. Coach Dennis Cromer's Bison struggled to find the right of man-to-man defense and matchup zone.

"We have a tough time with them simply because of their size, and Warden's a heck of a player. That's pretty hard to stop a kid who's that tall (6-6) who shoots the ball that well," Cromer said.

He's got a shooter, too - Dan Montano, who led the gritty Bison's 24-point comeback on Saturday to beat Nazareth.

The junior was whistled for his third foul at 6:52 of the third quarter, then hit with what Cromer saw as a soft technical. Montano returned in the fourth quarter and hit a 3 before fouling out with 9 points at 3:48 left.

Fenton's trap trimmed its deficit to 53-41 entering the fourth quarter. Emeka Umeadi and Sebastian Baran tallied 13 and 9 points, respectively, but Glenbard West's big men pushed it to 69-52 with 1:02 left.

"We're getting better every day," coach Tim Hoder said. "That's the key."