Glenbard East cruises past Wheaton North
A sluggish start couldn’t stop defending DuPage Valley Conference champion Glenbard East from snapping its five-game skid.
The host Rams used a dominant second-half performance to cruise to a 59-36 victory over Wheaton North on Friday night. The Rams’ aggressive defense in the second half stifled any comeback bid and eliminated any chance of letting a much-needed victory slip away.
“Coach told us to step on the neck coming out of the half,” Rams forward Marvin Grant-Clark said after his team’s first home victory of the season. “We weren’t going to lose again at home. We had to get this win.”
Rams forward Dante Bailey opened the scoring with a quick 3 in the first 15 seconds, but both teams struggled to score the rest of the quarter. The Rams (10-10, 4-5) had four consecutive rebounds but were unable to capitalize, and Wheaton North ended the first quarter with a 7-5 lead.
The Falcons (6-13, 2-8) led 9-7 after a pair of Andrew Zelis free throws but watched as Tahron Harvey and Mike Kjeldsen drained consecutive 3s to hand the Rams a 13-7 lead. The Falcons fought back, pulling within 15-13, but Harvey answered with another 3, followed by junior Greg Ludwig’s layup that increased the Rams’ lead to 20-13. Glenbard East went to halftime enjoying a 23-17 advantage.
A 9-0 run in the third quarter blew the game open for the Rams. Zelis opened the quarter converting a three-point play, but it was all Rams after that. The Rams used turnovers to cash in easy baskets as they cruised into the fourth quarter with a 41–26 advantage.
“You can’t panic,” Wheaton North coach Jim Nazos said. “You have to grind back into it. We started to force some things offensively. They just made plays when they had to.”
It was more of the same for the Rams in the fourth, as Ludwig, Bailey and point guard Evan Peterson got into the scoring. The commanding second-half performance and limiting the 6-foot-11 Zelis to 11 points gave the Rams the victory they craved.
“We boxed him out and just took the body,” Grant-Clark said. “Everybody just came out to play today.”