Glenbard North pulls away from West Chicago

Glenbard North’s boys basketball team needed every bit of its senior chemistry to hold off a dogged effort from West Chicago, as the experienced Panthers pulled away from the Wildcats for a 61-48 DuPage Valley Conference victory Friday night in Carol Stream.

Glenbard North (4-2, 2-1) led 12-8 after the first quarter in large part to senior forward Brandon Clark, who poured in 8 first-quarter points and pulled down 3 rebounds to give the Panthers a small cushion after the first period.

However, Clark, like many other Panthers, got into early foul trouble, which enabled West Chicago (3-5, 0-3) to stay in the game.

The foul trouble for Glenbard North’s big men gave Panthers senior guard Anthony Keener a chance to assert himself with 8 second-quarter points to keep the Wildcats at bay.

“A lot of our guys got in foul trouble, so I just tried to lead my team and get good shots and play good defense,” Keener said. “Our bench came in and did great, but give them a lot of credit, they hung with us until the end of the fourth quarter.”

Keener paced the Panthers with 17 points and also snagged 5 rebounds as his leadership helped stake the Panthers to a 25-19 halftime lead.

Foul trouble to Glenbard North’s Clark and senior forward Josh Fleming enabled West Chicago to get the ball inside and exploit the Panthers’ foul troubles. Forward Dylan Hedmark took full advantage as he put up 14 points and 4 rebounds while the Panthers’ big men sat for extended periods of time. The Wildcats’ persistence down low also allowed them to stay in the game via the free-throw line with 18-of-22 shooting.

“We started to look inside more and that got us back in the game,” Hedmark said.

The Wildcats were able to tie the game for the first time since the opening tip just a minute into the fourth quarter. Then Clark and Fleming re-entered the game and the Panthers were able to pull away for good. Clark, Fleming and Keener accounted for 18 fourth-quarter points to pull out the victory.

“I have to play smarter, but at the same time I also have confidence in our bench,” Clark said. “I also have confidence in Anthony, we’ve been playing together for a long time, so we have that chemistry and it’s nice to have that.”

Wildcats forward Justin Mundt led all scorers with 19 points. He and Hedmark kept the Wildcats within striking distance until the waning moments.

“They’re an elite team and we put ourselves in a position to win. We just have to finish next time, and we will,” Mundt said. “I thought for the most part we shut down Fleming, and I really thought we were going to finish it.”