Barrington stings Zion-Benton

It seemed Barrington was looking up at Zion-Benton all night.

In height disadvantage. In rebounding. In "hops" around the basket, if you will.

But not in heart and not in smarts.

The Broncos slowed their offense to get better percentage looks and adjusted their defense to keep the ball away from inside powerhouse Lenzelle Smith. Subsequently, they were able to rally from 12 back for a 68-64 win in the championship pool of the Jacobs Holiday Classic in Algonquin.

Paced by the second-half shooting of Bryan Wegner (18 points), Greg Gerrard (14), James Stack (13) and Ben Bartz (12), and a swarming, switching, scrambling defensive effort from everybody who got into the game, the Broncos finally tied the score at 51-51 in the fourth quarter on Gerrard's free throws and went ahead 54-51 when Wegner calmly tossed home a 3 from the right wing.

After surrounding Smith (16 points) and frontcourt runningmate Owen Worthington (15) into a 5-of-17 shooting effort in the fourth quarter, the Broncos (7-6) relied on their free throw shooting (11 straight) down the stretch to pull away for the win. It was their fourth straight since a disheartening Mid-Suburban West loss at home to Palatine last Friday.

"Defensively, the key was keeping the ball out of (Smith's) hands. We played the drive gaps and helped out," said Wegner, who sent an alert to his teammates by not being timid about attacking the basket in the second half.

Now the Broncos will play St. Charles North at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the tournament title.

"The Palatine game was a little bit of a wake-up call," said a gratified Bryan Tucker, Barrington's head coach. "I was real happy with our kids.

"We had to adjust to (Z-B's) athleticism and their strength (inside). We did a nice job taking that away in the second half."