Something different about Glenbard East

Something's different.

Maybe the eye can't see it, but something's definitely different about this Glenbard East boys basketball team.

Something special.

For the fifth time in seven years, the Rams tucked away a regional title plaque in hopes of upgrading to a sectional crown. Four straight trips they failed, however, making it to the sectional final only once.

That all changed Friday night when Glenbard East (26-3) beat East Aurora (24-6) 80-62 in the Class 4A East Aurora sectional final.

Mass celebration broke out after the game, and with good reason. This hasn't happened for Glenbard East since 1964.

There had been 12 regional titles in 47 years, but no sectional titles.

Something's different, indeed.

"We just wanted to do it for the players who were here before and the younger players who will follow," said senior guard Tyree York, one of many MVPs on the night for his work guarding all-everything Ryan Boatright.

"Coach always talks about how we're peaking at the right time, and that's what we've been doing," he said.

So many Glenbard East teams had similar aspirations, including last year's top-seeded group that took a 21-game winning streak into the Neuqua Valley sectional final. The Rams then suffered a crushing loss to Benet.

The regional title teams from 2005 to 2007 also had the chance to make playoff history for the program, but in three straight years the Rams fell in the sectional semifinals despite winning 68 games during that span.

Now this year's team comes along seemingly under the radar as a No. 3 seed despite boasting two All-Area players in point guard Zach Miller and forward Johnny Hill and plows its way through wins over the second and fourth seeds.

Talent had a lot to do with the Rams' success at East Aurora this week, starting with Hill and Miller's combined 88 points. But there must be more to the story than that.

"I can't say this team is better than those teams, but this team really kind of hung together through some adversity," said Rams coach Scott Miller. "Every game we lost made us better. I've said all season we haven't played our best basketball yet."

This isn't a fluke, either. That was a very good Downers Grove South team the Rams beat on Wednesday, a team that entered the game with an 18-game winning streak.

Friday's win was monumental against the Tomcats on their home court after they upset nationally ranked Benet on Tuesday. With arguably the state's best player in Boatright, East Aurora had to be envisioning its first sectional title since 1999.

But after six different players combined to knock down eight first-half 3-pointers, the Rams showed right away that this was their night.

"Just hard work," junior Dante Bailey said. "On a night like this, that's when it pays off."

Nothing was going to deny Glenbard East this week at East Aurora, certainly not any negative feelings about the program's rough sectional history over the past 47 years.

This Rams team forged its own history.

"We felt in our hearts we could do something special here," Hill said. "It was just a matter of going out and doing it."

kschmit@dailyherald.com