Surprising Barrington downs St. Charles North for Jacobs title
A week ago, you could've called Barrington a lot of things, such as struggling, slumping, and, most matter of factly, losing (3-6 overall).
This morning, you can call them champions of the Jacobs Holiday Classic. The Broncos' fifth win in a row - all in this tournament over the last week - was 59-54 over St. Charles North (9-6) for the title Saturday night.
How did they do this? How did they go from slouching slumpers to crouching tigers?
"We started playing together, as a team," said the Broncos' lone all-tournament selection, Bryan Wegner, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half. "We said all along our hard work would pay off."
The senior guard's work ethic and patience paid off in being a leader for a team that relies on a good number of underclassmen. After Wegner got into early foul trouble, with his team up 14-2, juniors Greg Gerrard (19 points) and James Stack (5 off the bench), plus sophomore center John Schneider (8) held off the North Stars' charge thereafter.
Schneider clamped down on SCN's "two headed-monster" centers, Kyle Nelson and Ryan Brown, and equaled their production himself. Ben Bartz (11 points) steadied things at the point and helped the Broncos commit just 4 turnovers after intermission when the game was tight all the way. Riley O'Daniel and Jack Sheetz contributed much-needed valuable minutes off the bench.
But perhaps most importantly was the defensive effort of Owen Prunskis on SCN star Josh Mikes, a force around the basket and an all-tournament selection. Mikes scored just 10 and fouled out in the final minute. Without him to go to, the North Stars turned the ball over, trailing by 1, with :24.7 left. Schneider and Wegner hit free throws from there to seal it.
"Our kids did a really nice job defensively," said first-year Broncos coach Bryan Tucker. "We played without Bryan (Wegner) for most of the first half," and still held a 27-22 lead at the break.
"It was tough," sitting on the bench in foul trouble, Wegner said. But he tipped his cap to his teammates. "Throughout the whole tournament, we've had someone else step up," five games running.
From St. Charles' point of view, Barrington's physical, aggressive style was too much to overcome. "We battled back, withstood some adversity throughout the game due to Barrington's style of play," said Stars coach Tom Poulin. And while he liked his team's comeback, falling behind big early was just too much.
"We didn't get any stops defensively. It made it hard to get any baskets in transition. It was a pretty tough first quarter."
Guards Chris Conrad (17 points) and David Johnson (12) brought the Stars back with their long-range shooting and defensive ballhawking. But the crucial late turnover with a chance for the lead and Barrington's 16-of-19 free-throw shooting, 10-for-11 in the fourth quarter, made the Stars pay for any missed shots, lost rebounds and especially turnovers.
"I'm proud of the guys. We battled," said Poulin. "We learned a lot about our character."
"""And Barrington's.