Buffalo Grove respon ds to challenge
Jeff Zabrin wasn't going to let Buffalo Grove finish the way it started in its Bison Classic boys basketball Thanksgiving tournament.
Zabrin believed he could have done more to prevent the Bison from letting a 10-point fourth-quarter lead slip away Monday in a loss to tourney champion Elgin. The senior guard got another chance Saturday night as an 18-point lead was cut to 2 points by rival Stevenson.
Zabrin scored 11 of his 14 points in the final 8:31 as BG (3-1) pulled away to a 60-48 win and second place in the tourney.
“I thought (junior guard) Richie Zirngibl stepped up a lot and as a senior I wanted to step up,” Zabrin said after he had 5 assists and with Zirngibl helped force 27 turnovers which BG turned into 25 points. “In the third and fourth quarter we needed somebody to step up with Nick hurting on the bench and I wasn't going to let that happen again.
“I have to take a lead role now with ‘Mully' (Kevin Mulligan) graduated. When they're hanging on Nick we need someone else to step up in the fourth quarter.”
Especially since 6-foot-7 junior Sam Wacker (19 points, 8 rebounds) and all-tourney pick Nick Prus (15 points, three 3-pointers) each had just 2 points after halftime for BG.
The defense of Brian Carlson on Prus and the offense from Michael Fleming (21 points) helped Stevenson get within 40-38 with 1:08 left in the third quarter.
BG patiently found Zabrin for his first 3. Stevenson got 2 free throws from Kevin Earl (10 points) but all-tourney pick Dan Recht answered with a lane drive and Zabrin hit 2 free throws.
Fleming's 3 got Stevenson within 47-43 but Zabrin answered with another 3. And 3-point plays off drives by Zabrin and Zirngibl put BG up 57-45 with 2:28 left.
“I thought we played pretty well Monday and played well all tournament,” said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. “Obviously we'd like to have the end of the (Elgin) game back but we can't. That's the beauty of the game and we learned from it.”
Wacker and Prus combined for all but 3 of BG's points as it tore out to a 26-8 lead 6:04 before halftime.
“We weren't terrible offensively but we weren't good,” said Stevenson coach Pat Ambrose. “We were poor defensively but give BG credit, they took it to us.
“I'm certainly more disappointed in the defense than the offense. We weren't ready to go.”