Glenbard West defeats Glenbard East in OT
Coaches love measuring-stick games. They especially enjoy it when their teams measure up.
Glenbard West showed its high expectations for the boys basketball season are warranted with an 81-75 overtime victory over Glenbard East to claim the District 87 Tournament championship Wednesday night in Glen Ellyn.
“We’ve been building for a long time. We’ve been building the last couple of years, so it’s a big win,” Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder said. “That’s a good team. They’ve got a heck of a player in Dante Bailey, and obviously coach (Scott) Miller does a great job. It’s such a successful program. So it’s a big win for us. It’s a really big win.”
Glenbard West won by scoring the first 11 points of overtime. Vernon Harris scored 6 of his 22 points in the first 2:32 of the extra period as the Hilltoppers (3-0) did all but knock out the Rams (2-1).
The Hilltoppers were 7 of 7 at the free-throw line in overtime.
“They did a better job than we did keeping their composure in overtime,” said Miller, who guided the Rams to third place in Class 4A last spring. “We had a bad shot, a turnover. You just can’t do that in overtime. The first four quarters I thought we played really well. I was real proud of our guys. We had the tempo exactly where we wanted it. A lot of energy, attacking the glass. Those are all good things, so there are a lot of good things to build on.”
The lead went back and forth the first four quarters, with Glenbard West taking the biggest lead of regulation midway through the second quarter at 8 points. Glenbard East battled back to cut the lead to 33-31 at halftime, and the Hilltoppers’ lead remained 2 points after the third quarter. The Rams never led by more than 5 points.
Bailey led the Rams with 24 points. Marvin Grant-Clark added 13 before fouling out in the fourth quarter, and Pat Walsh had 11.
“Marvin really came out and had a strong game. I was proud of our guys,” Miller said.
Michael Mache surprised nobody with a typical 22-point performance, but Harris showed he can be a very strong second option by matching Mache’s total. Harris added 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 blocked shots.
“He’s awful talented,” Hoder said of the 6-foot-6 forward. “He’s raw, he’s very talented, he loves the game.”