Taylor’s jumper sinks Hinsdale Central

Justin Taylor stood by the baseline to the left of Glenbard West’s basket, watching as Hinsdale Central double-teamed the basketball in the far corner, hoping it would come around to him.

“Yeah, I was looking for it,” the Hilltoppers junior said.

So when teammate Egan Montgomery swung the ball around to Taylor from the top of the key, Taylor was ready to drop in the shot that dropped pesky Hinsdale Central once and for all, 48-46 Saturday on Pack the Place night in Glen Ellyn.

“I was feeling confident. I’ve been shooting pretty well the past couple of games, and it was wide open, so it was the perfect shot for me to take,” Taylor said of the 17-footer with 1.8 seconds to play.

“We were talking — this is one of the first Pack the Place games we’ve won in several years,” Hilltoppers junior Michael Mache said. “That’s really big. I think the last one we won was when (Northwestern forward John) Shurna was around. That’s really big for us. It’s getting over that hump that we needed to get over.”

Glenbard West (7-10, 2-4 West Suburban Silver) took an 11-point lead on a pair of Michael Mache free throws with 2:59 left in the third quarter, but the Red Devils refused to concede.

With 2:36 left in the fourth, Hinsdale Central (4-11, 1-5) took its first lead since the first quarter on a Tom Garvin putback.

“I was proud of our kids, they played all the way down to the end,” Red Devils coach Nick Latorre said.

A Mache three-point play with 28.1 seconds left gave the Hilltoppers a 46-44 lead, but Brad Anlauf’s layup tied the game with 18 seconds left. That set up Taylor’s jumper from perhaps his favorite spot on the floor to shoot.

Mache poured in 22 points, including 9-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line.

“We get so much out of Michael, and sometimes we take it for granted,” Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder said. “He carries such a load for us.”

Garvin’s 12 points led Hinsdale Central.