Glenbard S. edges Kaneland

As difficult as things were for Glenbard South in the third quarter, it was even worse for Kaneland in the final period.

Entering the fourth quarter facing a 9-point deficit in a nonconference boys basketball game in Maple Park Tuesday night, Glenbard South rallied behind Jon Berrospi and Matt Jeske to capture the contest between the formal league rivals, 42-37.

Jeske, saddled by foul problems all night, had not even attempted a shot from the field prior to the fourth quarter.

But the Raiders’ 6-foot-5 senior forward scored all 8 of his points in the final quarter, and Jon Berrospi, who finished with a game-high 12 points, orchestrated the Raiders’ 20-point outburst to erase the Knights’ twin 9-point leads.

The two had back-to-back 3-point plays midway through the fourth quarter as part of a 12-point unanswered run to give Glenbard South the lead for good.

“Jon made a great pass to me, and I was able to finish,” Jeske said. “Then he was able to do the same thing (complete a 3-point play) the next time down. It was definitely our defense that won it for us.”

The fourth quarter was a disaster for the Knights offensively: Kaneland (3-3) did not score from the field until 4.2 seconds remained in the game, turning the ball over five times while misfiring on its first 11 attempts from the floor.

“We weren’t very fundamentally sound,” Kaneland coach Brian Johnson said. “(The loss) is a product of us not executing down the stretch.”

The game did not begin on an auspicious note for either team: neither squad scored in double digits in both of the opening quarters, and there were as many combined turnovers as points midway through the second quarter.

“It was pretty ugly,” Johnson said.

The schools matched each other with 4 field goals apiece in the opening two quarters, with Glenbard South nursing a 17-16 lead at the intermission.

Glenbard South (2-3) had a woeful start to its third quarter; the Raiders turned the ball over on their opening 6 possessions, enabling Kaneland to spurt to a 27-19 lead courtesy of an 11-2 run.

The Raiders, who won the game despite making 10 field goals on a hard-to-fathom 28 attempts, did not score from the field until Alex Jeske drained a baseline-left 3-pointer with 53 seconds left in the quarter.

Kaneland forced 11 turnovers during the third quarter alone as Glenbard South had a mere 5 field-goal tries for the quarter.

“That’s what we talked about in the timeout (between the third and fourth quarters) -- valuing every possession,” Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke said. “I was proud of our defensive effort all night.”

Trevor Heinle and Marcel Neil, both of whom fouled out in the fourth quarter, paced Kaneland with 11 and 8 points, respectively.

“We had a lot of bunnies, a lot of close baskets that we didn’t finish,” Johnson said.