Barrington takes physical win over Streamwood
Barrington's boys basketball team isn't apologizing for winning a game Monday that included, in addition to 17 3-pointers, 56 personal fouls, 42 turnovers, four players fouling out, a technical foul and a lot of body-bruising.
If you didn't know better, you might have thought you were walking into WWE Raw.
However, the Broncos got strong performances off the bench from three key players and wore down a hard-nosed but outmanned Streamwood squad, 79-66, as round-robin play continued at the Hinkle Holiday Classic at Jacobs. The 9-1 Broncos will meet 10-1 Cary-Grove on Thursday for the group title and a spot in the championship pool.
Liam Kibby (13 points), Will Grudzinski (10) and John Bulgarelli (8) came in off the bench for the Broncos to spell tiring and foul-plagued starters trying to maintain the racehorse pace at which shorter, sharpshooting Streamwood (4-8) likes to play.
Kibby had 3 field goals in the second quarter, including a trey, Bulgarelli was 6 of 8 at the free-throw line and Grudzinski had a 3-pointer and was perfect (8 of 8) at the free-throw line in leading the bench brothers' performance and helping Barrington maintain the lead it never let go of after Aaron Sarkar's field goal and Grudzinski's free throws to close out period one.
"I didn't expect to get in (the game) that early," said Kibby, a 6-foot-1 junior. "My teammates did a great job," getting him the ball for open looks, that is.
And the bench performance was totally needed, in the view of the head coach.
"We let (Streamwood) play to their strengths," namely the 3-point open look, said Broncos head man Bryan Tucker, and they knocked down 12 of them, 6 by game high-scorer Luke Pentecost (21 points). But as usual, Barrington's height and depth made a difference. The Broncos, spurred by Grudzinski and Bulgarelli, along with Connor and Dylan Keenan, dominated the boards, 32-12, many of them offensive putbacks. Several were press-breakers, as Streamwood tried to rally, with Connor Keenan (18 points) being on the receiving end of the play's completion several times.
Dylan Zivak (17 points) got Barrington off to a fast start, but wound up fouling out and not scoring in the second half, making Kibby's, Grudzinski's and Bulgarelli's contributions that much more significant.
Kibby was happy just to contribute. "Just gives me confidence," he said of what he took away from the win.
Streamwood took away a lot of effort but needed a ladder to keep up with Barrington on the boards.
"Our guys played their hearts out," said head coach Kent Payne, no stranger to Mid-Suburban League basketball. Not only is his Sabre team short and scrappy, it is young - he starts a sophomore and two juniors and comes with a junior and a sophomore first thing off the bench. Sophomore forward Jakobe Strong scored 10 points and a pair of 3-pointers. Junior starter Kyle Maybrun had 17 points and two 3-pointers before fouling out.
Despite the youth and lack of size, Payne has confidence in his guys. "We're going to be good. We have a unique style of play."
Just ask Barrington.