Glenbard East keeps season going with OT win vs. Batavia
The next loss will be Scott Miller's last at Glenbard East. So no matter the circumstances, DaRon Hall and Deon Cook weren't about to let their head coach depart without a little hardware.
Having played together since the sixth grade, the two senior guards combined for 70 points Friday in leading the Rams to the Class 4A Willowbrook regional title with an 81-79 overtime victory over Batavia.
In winning its first regional championship since 2013, and the seventh in Miller's 21 years at the school, Glenbard East improved to 22-9 and advanced to Wednesday's Addison Trail sectional semifinal against Naperville Central.
"These (regional titles) never get old," the retiring Miller said. "It's been a few years since we won one and it's very special. I've said this plenty since Christmas, this is a special group. And it's not about me, it's never been about me. It is about these kids.
"They've handled everything really well. They work hard every day, they listen and they care about each other. And they don't care who gets the credit."
On Friday it was Hall who deserved a lion's share of the credit. He scored a personal-high 41 points - Miller couldn't remember anyone scoring more at a Glenbard East - and sank the game-winning 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in the extra session. The senior scored 11 points in both the second and third quarters.
Hall also blocked a potential tying shot by the Bulldogs.
"Ice in my veins I guess," Hall said about his final 3-pointer, his fifth of the night. "It felt good as soon as it left my hand. I actually felt good as soon as warm-ups and my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in the right spots.
"We did this as a team. We did not want Coach Miller leaving empty-handed in his last year. This was for Coach."
Cook was equally scintillating, pouring in 29 points, including a layup to tie the score at 71 with 1:20 left in regulation. He added 4 steals.
"This feels very good," said Hall, who made a free throw with just over one second left to account for the final margin. "We've been working since Day One and we really deserve this. This is very big. All season long, all our away games, the opposing coaches have been doing things for Coach and we've been using that for motivation."
Batavia (17-15) had fought its way back from a seven-point deficit heading into the final quarter. The visitors used a 19-5 run to grab their biggest advantage at 65-58 before it was the Rams' turn to answer.
Jayden Johnson scored 10 of his 27 points in the fourth for the Bulldogs, who held the ball for the final minute before missing a long jumper.
They then grabbed the lead on four occasions in overtime, the last of which came at 79-77 on a layup by Devin Cheaney with 40 seconds remaining.
Cheaney finished with 15 points, Ethan Ivan totaled 16 and Kyle Neibch had 11.
"Congratulations to Coach Miller, I know this is his last year," Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. "And congratulations to their team. My heart goes out to our guys, they battled. We just came up short."