Barrington blocks Palatine

Barrington’s boys basketball team came up with a lock-down defensive effort Friday night in a 50-34 victory over host Palatine in Mid-Suburban West play.

Led by 6-foot-7 junior John Schneider, who set the tone by recording 4 of his 5 blocked shots in the first half, the Broncos stymied the Pirates’ offensive attack both in the paint and on the perimeter.

Barrington held Palatine to just 1-of-14 shooting from 3-point range.

“I was feeling it tonight,” said Schneider, who pitched in on offense as well with 10 points.

“They (Palatine) have a tough zone defense,” added the junior. “We worked hard all week in practice preparing for it. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to just sit inside against it and get the ball. I had work off the ball to get my points and be active on the boards.”

Barrington coach Bryan Tucker agreed that solving Palatine’s zone was a difficult task.

“You could tell we were a little uncomfortable with it in the first half,” said Tucker. “We were too impatient. In the second half the kids settled down and moved the ball, and that got us going.”

Palatine was able to hang with the Broncos through most of the first two quarters. Pirates senior guard Peter Bony was hot early, scoring 6 of his team-high 15 points in the first quarter.

But Barrington (15-6, 5-2) was able to open things up midway though the third quarter. First, sophomore guard Brad Zaumseil (11 points) canned a 3, Mark Bennett had a 3-point play, then Greg Gerrard (game-high 16 points) got a steal and coast-to-coast layup and just like that the Broncos led by double digits.

“We were able to push the ball and get some open shots,” said Zaumseil.

Junior Tom Hauert nailed Palatine’s only 3-pointer of the game as the home team went on a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter to make things interesting.

Barrington, though, was able to stem the tide behind late free throws from Schneider and a bucket by Tyler Weathered (7 points).

“The key was that we were able to defend well in the paint and make them shoot from the peirmiter,” said Tucker, “and we were able to do a decent job of getting a hand in their face.”

Hauert added 7 points for the Pirates (7-13, 2-5) while teammate John Millin pulled down 6 rebounds.

“We were able to defend well in the first half,” said Palatine coach Eric Millstone, “but in the second half their skill level was able to take over.”