Deerfield stays focused, stops Barrington
After missing 13 free throws including, 12 down the stretch in Wednesday’s regional semifinal victory over Buffalo Grove, where did the Deerfield team go?
Well, not to Disney World, that’s for sure.
The Warriors went back to the gym Thursday for some extra foul shooting practice, and it paid off with a Libertyville regional championship victory.
Despite not making a field goal in the last 14 minutes of the game, Deerfield went 18-for-23 from the line Friday night in the fourth quarter and overtime to score a 45-41 OT victory over Barrington.
“I was extremely happy with the way we played defense,” said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. “We just couldn’t get enough generated on the offensive end.”
Six-foot-7 junior forward John Schneider led Barrington with 11 points, while Deerfield’s John Carney, coming off a career-high 23 points against BG, finished with a game-high 12 but most importantly was 6-of-6 from the free throw line in overtime.
“After going 13-of-26 from the line Wednesday, we knew had to pick it up,” said Deerfield senior guard Josh Schur. “Everybody stepped up tonight and we were able to knock them down when we needed them most.”
Barrington (19-11), which owned a huge rebounding advantage, looked like it might run away with the contest by opening up a 15-4 lead midway through the second quarter.
But Deerfield fought back to forge a 17-17 halftime tie.
“We got of lot of good looks in the first half, and we couldn’t knock down a lot of them — but that happens,” said Tucker. “Then they got hot, hit a few 3s, got the momentum back and took that energy into the second half.”
Deerfield held a lead through most of the final two quarters, but Barrington finally grabbed a 30-28 advantage with 2:48 remaining on a putback from Tyler Weathered (7 points).
The Warriors, predictably, sent the game into overtime by making 4 late free throws and took control in the extra session.
“I can’t say enough about the resliency of these guys,” said Warriors coach Bret Just, “especially our seniors (Carney, Schur, Scott Fenton and Sam Sternberg) from the line.”
Deerfield was 13-for-16 from the foul line in overtime and finished 22-for-27 for the game. It opened a 6 point lead in OT.
Barrington got as close as 39-36 with 22 seconds left on a Schneider layup, but poor shooting hurt the Broncos, especially from long range. The Broncos finished 4-for-27 from behind the arc.
“It wasn’t the best shooting night for either team,” said Tucker, “but both teams battled on defense and on the glass.”
Greg Gerrard scored 7 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Barrington, while guard Brad Zaumseil scored 9 points and played an outstanding all-around floor game.
“He (Zaumseil) may be a sophomore, but there really are no sophomores on the varsity at this time of year, if you know what I mean,” said Tucker. “Brad’s been very impressive all season and I’m glad to see he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves. He not only can score but he sets up the other guys for points.”