Big second half propels Buffalo Grove
Defense and timely offense was going to be the telltale sign when Buffalo Grove hosted Elk Grove on Friday night in the Mid-Suburban East.
Tied at 34-34 at halftime, it was the Bison who came out with a strong third quarter to help beat the Grenadiers 68-60.
"Thirty-four points at halftime are a lot for us to give up," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. "If we were going to win the game, we would have to win on defense. We came out and got some steals that turned into points and I think that got them out of their rhythm."
The Grenadiers (7-13, 2-5) last led at 38-37 on Anthony Jimenez's (8 points) basket with 5:04 left in the third.
Andrew Apel hit 2 free throws for BG with 4:33 remaining in the quarter for a 39-38 lead and then never trailed as the Bison (8-12, 3-4) won their third in a row.
Luke Potnick then stole the ball for a layup to give the Bison a little breathing room and by quarter's end BG led 48-43. Senior center Sam Wacker then came alive for the Bison in the fourth quarter.
Leading 48-47 after 2 free throws by Elk Grove's Jeff Miceli, Wacker helped ignite a 9-2 run with three baskets and a 3 by Alex Fritz (10 points) with 4:33 left.
Two 3s baskets by the Grens Austin Amann (24 points, 6 rebounds) pulled the visitors within 63-59 with 56 seconds left but a 3-point play by Wacker with 49 seconds left made the score 66-59.
"You could see in the fourth quarter that Wacker (18 points, 6 rebounds) wanted to win this one," said O'Connor. "When he plays like this we can win games."
"I just had to calm down after the first half," said Wacker, who scored 14 points in the second half. "I needed to focus and the shots started falling."
The same could be said for Potnick, who had a stellar game scoring 26 points, grabbing 6 rebounds to go with 4 assists and three steals.
"Luke got points for us all over the floor," said O'Connor. "From the arc, underneath, and the free-throw line. He played a very good all around game."
"We're starting to flow as a team," said Potnick. "It took us awhile but its better to play like this towards the end of the season. We really worked on our defense this week."
Elk Grove hurt its own chances with 18 turnovers and 12-of-24 from the free-throw line.
"Our turnovers were the worst part of our floor game," said Grens coach Anthony Furman, who saw his team lose their fifth in a row. "Because of those turnovers we let them get two or three posessions in front of us, but we did make some comebacks. We just can't give up that many points."