Elk Grove hangs on to beat Bartlett
The Elk Grove boys basketball team gave Bartlett every chance to win Tuesday night's nonconference game in Bartlett.
The Grenadiers did not score in the final 3:25, including missing four free throws in the final minute, but made one last defensive stand to hold on for a 50-48 victory.
"We had opportunities at the end to close it out," said Elk Grove senior Donny Duschinsky, who hit a big 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give the Grens the lead for good. "Once again, we relied on our defense to come through at the end."
Keven Zelaya's 3-pointer with 3:25 left in the fourth game Elk Grove (7-14) its largest lead of the game, 50-43. But turnovers and missed free throws gave the Hawks the chance to rally.
Two free throws from Mike Banks with 2:36 left cut Bartlett's deficit to 4, 50-46. The Hawks (12-9), however, were unable to score again until 33.7 seconds left on a Larry Whitaker free throw.
"We shot ourselves in the foot," Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "We had a four-point deficit with 21/2 minutes to go. Then we had two straight turnovers followed by two dumb shots. That's four possessions where they didn't score. That's four straight possessions we could have come down and scored. If we score on two of the four, we've tied the game or up by a point or two."
Banks hit 1 of 2 free throws with 32.2 seconds left to make it a 2-point game, 50-48. The Grens then missed two free throws with 26.2 seconds remaining. Whitaker grabbed the rebound, setting up a potential game-tying shot.
Banks' leaner in the lane missed, but the senior got the rebound with about 4 seconds left and put up another shot that missed at the buzzer.
"We got lucky, but we also played good defense on the last possession," Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman said. "We definitely gave them opportunities down the stretch."
Brian Battaglia led the Grens with 16 points. Duschinsky and Zelaya each added 11. Duschinsky also had 10 rebounds.
Luke Labedzki scored 16 points, only two in the fourth quarter, to lead the Hawks. Banks added 9. Whitaker finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds.