Second-quarter slump sinks Buffalo Grove
Buffalo Grove couldn't recover from a disastrous second quarter in Wednesday night's testy 54-44 loss to Deerfield in the semifinals of the Class 4A Libertyville regional.
Not only did the Bison, who started strong with 19 first-quarter points, score only 2 in the second stanza, but they also saw a couple of starters go down with injuries.
Deerfield will meet Barrington at Libertyville on Friday with a regional title at stake.
“It's tough to go out like this,” said BG senior guard Jeff Zabrin, grimacing as he sat in the training room after the game, receiving treatment on an injured ankle suffered during a battle for a loose ball.
Six-foot-7 Bison junior center Sam Wacker also went down early in the period, hurting his ankle as well. Zabrin was able to return in the second half with limited mobility, but Wacker had to sit out the remainder of the contest.
“In a game like this, believe me, if there was any way Sam could have come back, he would have,” said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. “It hurt us quite a bit because we wanted to go inside tonight, especially with Deerfield playing a box-and-one on Nick (Prus).
“They did a nice job of taking Nick out of the game.”
Prus scored 6 points on 2 3s, while Zabrin gutted it out and finished with 10 points.
“I couldn't cut, and I couldn't get my legs under me to get my shot,” said Zabrin.
The Bison (16-11) trailed only 24-21 at halftime but Deerfield (17-10), behind senior forward John Carney's career-high 23 points, opened up a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.
“I'm really pleased with the way the kids played,” said Warriors coach Bret Just. “This time of year it's all about survival, and they showed a lot of guts out there. We don't play a lot of guys, and this was a physical game. But they responded to the challenge.”
Deerfield left the door open for a Bison rally by missing 12 free throws in a chippy, rough and tumble final eight minutes, but BG couldn't capitalize.
The Bison were able to get within 5 points late but couldn't overcome their shooting problems from the field. They finished 18-for-66 from the field and 4-for-19 from 3-point range.
Guard Rich Zirngibl led BG with 11 points, while senior Brian Akialis, pressed into service replacing Wacker, was impressive with 6 points and 7 rebounds.
“They (BG) were executing their offense extremely well in the first quarter,” said Just. “They put up 19 points but the key was that we were able to score 17 of our own and stay within striking distance.”