Third-quarter run makes the difference to Hilltoppers

Four minutes of near-perfection made the difference for Glenbard West’s boys basketball team.

Behind a mammoth run to start the second half, the Hilltoppers surged to a 66-43 West Suburban Silver victory over visiting Downers Grove North and broke a two-game losing streak Friday in Glen Ellyn.

With the score knotted at 19 heading to halftime, Glenbard West (11-2, 3-1) stormed to an 18-0 run to start the third quarter. Downers North (4-11, 0-5) committed 7 turnovers during the four-minute stretch and missed 7 shots from the field.

Michael Mache scored 8 of his 12 points, while Jeff Levesque and Justin Taylor each added 5 points. Leading 37-19 when the barrage finally ended, Glenbard West never led by fewer than 15 points the rest of the way.

“We came in at halftime and we were low on energy,” Taylor said. “Third quarter we just upped the intensity. We were able to get stops on defense and push the ball on offense. That was a great momentum swing for us. That’s one of the best third quarters we’ve had this season.”

For Downers North the third quarter stood in complete contrast with how it played in a fiercely competitive first half. Gone was the strong rebounding and patient offense.

In its place arrived poor defensive rebounding and settling for 3-pointers. After scoring the final 4 points of the first half to tie the game at 19, any semblance of momentum disappeared.

“We were able to keep that game low-scoring, slow-paced and kind of in our favor in the first half,” said Trojans coach Jim Thomas. “We thought we were executing our game plan perfectly at that point, and then we gave up an 18-0 run.”

Pat Mazza led Glenbard West with 13 points, while Levesque added 9 points and Egan Montgomery scored 7 points off the bench. Rob Mahlke led all scorers with 15 points for the Trojans. Davis Skirgaila knocked down three 3-pointers in scoring 11 points.

Combined with Oak Park’s loss to Lyons Twp. on Friday, Glenbard West is tied with the Huskies (10-4, 4-1) in the loss column atop the Silver standings.

“Whether we’ve had a lead or it’s been close, sometimes we’ve struggled coming out in the third quarter of games,” said Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder. “That was good to set the tone like that.”