Boys hoops: Sahi's 3-pointer lifts Glenbard South past Glenbard West
Masroor Sahi made sure Jason Mead won't forget his first game as Glenbard South's head boys basketball coach.
The senior scored a game-high 25 points and knocked down the go-ahead 3-pointer in the Raiders' 52-48 win over host Glenbard West as part of the District 87 Thanksgiving Invitational.
In a season opener that was a game of runs, Glenbard South finished the contest on a 14-0 spurt after trailing by 10 early in the fourth quarter.
Sahi's final 3-pointer, his fifth of the night and third in the final quarter, gave the Raiders a 49-48 lead with 43 seconds left.
"It's amazing," said Sahi, a three-year varsity player who added seven rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. "It's a great way to start off the season. We came in with high expectations and we want to continue to take steps forwards, not backwards.
"Early on we were settling for too many poor shots. We started trusting our teammates more, we drove and kicked out and our shots started falling. In the beginning, my shot wasn't too hot but my teammates continued to get me the ball and I kept shooting. My teammates trusted me."
Harper Bryan knocked down three free throws in the final minute and a half to finish with 10 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Ben Zima added nine points for Glenbard South, which used an 11-0 first half run to grab a 20-10 lead.
The Raiders took a 28-27 advantage into halftime.
"That was a fun one," said Mead, who previously coached at Waubonsie Valley. "I think that was a game where both teams played really, really hard. At the same time, it clearly looked like a first game of the season. But we played really hard and when you play hard, you give yourselves a chance. I'm really proud of the guys.
"Masroor was really good. He obviously was a really important cog in our scoring machine. He scored basically half our points. He was really important for us."
The Hilltoppers, who had a 14-0 spurt of their own in the opening half, began the third quarter by scoring 14 of the first 16 points to grab a 41-30 advantage.
Mike O'Connell scored six in that period and finished with seven points and eight rebounds. Bennett Schwanke led Glenbard West, which returns no full-time starters, with 12 points. Julian Yeh and Drew Gacek had six apiece for the Hilltoppers, who had nine players enter the scoring column.
In the fourth quarter, Glenbard West was held to five points while turning the ball over six times.
"In the third quarter we picked up the intensity," Glenbard West coach Jason Opoka said. "But we didn't execute down the stretch. We are a young team and we are still trying to figure things out. When you go a long stretch without scoring, you are never going to win the game.
"Congrats to Glenbard South. They outfought us, they outexecuted us and they deserved to win that basketball game."