Crystal Lake South tops Barrington
Crystal Lake South had a lost-and-found second half in Saturday night’s nonconference boys basketball game with visiting Barrington.
The Gators lost their way defensively for an eight-minutes stretch and found a 10-point lead turned into a 6-point deficit.
But they didn’t lose their composure and found a way to complete a weekend sweep with a 58-56 victory at Gator Alley. The Gators (13-10) also rallied in the second half Friday to beat Jacobs.
“We haven’t been playing that well lately,” said CL South senior Kevin Rogers after he scored 8 of his 15 points in the final 6:50. “To come against two good teams on our home floor is a real good confidence-builder.”
And CL South, which won the first meeting with the Broncos (17-9) at the Jacobs tournament on a desperation 3 at the buzzer, had to watch this time as they got an open 3-pointer for Brad Zaumseil that bounced off the front rim as time ran out.
CL South had taken a 35-25 lead as Ethan Breitenstein scored 13 of his 16 points and it got 14 points off 12 turnovers against its extended 1-3-1 zone.
But a torrid stretch where Zaumseil (9 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), Tyler Weathered (18 points, 5-for-9 on 3s) and Mark Bennett (9 points) hit five straight 3s sparked Barrington to a 48-42 lead with 7:08 to play.
“I felt we got complacent,” said CL South coach Dan DeBruycker, who made that point clear during a timeout less than a minute later. “They got a couple of loose balls for easy baskets and you can’t leave (Weathered) because he’s a great shooter.”
Rogers responded with a driving 3-point play and CL South’s eighth 3 for the first of four fourth-quarter ties.
“We play all seniors so we’ve been in this position before,” Rogers said. “Down six, we knew we had to trust each other to play our game.”
A free throw by Robbie Lemke at 1:05 and 2 free throws by Gavin Rubin at 0:39 after a turnover put CL South up 57-54. John Schneider (12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks) countered with a baseline drive for Barrington at 0:26 before Ryan Price split 2 free throws at 0:19 to set the final score.
“Both nights we had breakdowns where we let teams execute offensively,” said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker, whose team lost in overtime to Schaumburg on Friday. “We just didn’t react properly and we gave some really talented teams some really good opportunities.”