Hall, Glenbard East find spark to beat Glenbard North
With the ball at the top of the key at the end of the third quarter, Glenbard East's DaRon Hall was just trying to make something happen in a tie boys basketball game against Glenbard North.
Hall drew a foul and sank the ensuing three free throws with no time left on the clock. That helped spark a 10-0 run, and the Rams turned a tight game into a 64-49 victory during Monday night's season opener for both teams in the District 87 Tournament at Glenbard West.
"I just saw (the defender's) hand out and made a move," Hall said. "I just tried to raise my arm and shoot it with time running out and got fouled."
Glenbard North (0-1) took its last lead at 42-40 on a layup from Jaheim Edmond with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter.
Glenbard East (1-0) closed the quarter with a putback from Raf Bou before Hall's free throws. The Rams then scored the first 5 points of the fourth quarter to extend their lead to 50-42.
"I was really proud of our guys," Rams coach Scott Miller said. "They did a nice job of keeping their composure and in the fourth quarter they settled in defensively. And that's one of the things we talked about. We're a team that's going to wear teams down as the games goes on, putting pressure on the ball and things like that and I thought that was key."
The Panthers just couldn't buy a basket in the fourth quarter.
A pair of free throws and a basket from Jerry Abushanab pulled the Panthers to within 50-46 with 6:25 remaining, but they'd get outscored 14-3 to close out the game.
"We couldn't put the ball in the basket there on the offensive end in the fourth quarter," Panthers coach Joe Larson said. "And they made some plays early in the fourth quarter, some big shots, and I thought they got some offensive rebounds in the third and fourth quarter that cost us."
Hall poured in 14 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter after dealing with foul trouble in the first half.
"Coach talked to me in the locker room and told me stop fouling and to put my hands up," Hall said. "I started to feel it in the third quarter. I felt good."
Deon Cook added 19 points for the Rams. His struggles in the first half were primarily at the free-throw line, but he appears to have corrected that. He converted just 9 of 19 overall but made 7 of 8 to finish the game.
"After halftime my main focus was to lift my heels," he said. "Most of my shots were falling short, and coach said to keep on pushing. I kept doing that and that's how I was able to get to the line so much."
Jake Cicero had 11 points for the Panthers.
"There were lot of positives, a lot of things to build from and a lot of things to learn from as well," Larson said. "Free-throw shooting wasn't as good as it needs to be and our defensive rebounds has got to be better."