Glenbard North scores final 12 points, downs Wheaton North

Prior to its tipoff against visiting Wheaton North on Saturday, Glenbard North held a ceremony to honor senior JJ Hernandez.

Hernandez had scored the 1,000th point of his career Dec. 28 against Lemont, quite an accomplishment, especially considering it took only two-plus seasons.

The first campaign on varsity for Hernandez came in his sophomore year.

Saturday against the Falcons, the senior kept it rolling, especially down the stretch.

Hernandez scored 6 consecutive points late in the fourth quarter as Glenbard North won 51-37 in a DuKane Conference tilt.

“It all starts in practice,” said Hernandez as the Panthers improved to 12-4 on the season and 6-1 in conference.

“We’ve been getting it done in practice and that reflects in the game.”

Jalen Crues, another Panthers senior, scored a game-high 20 points.

Crues was at Wheaton North his first three years before transferring this summer.

“My old school, and I still have a lot of love for those guys,” said Crues of the Falcons.

“I definitely had butterflies tonight, but then again it’s just another game. Just got to go out there and compete.”

Jack Speers led Wheaton North (9-7, 3-3) with 11 points.

“We were obviously overmatched in certain areas,” said Falcons coach Dave Brackmann.

“We fought hard, but really struggled to put the ball in the basket in the second half. We gave them too many easy baskets, and when you do that it’s hard to win on the road, especially against a team like this.”

Wheaton North senior guard Hudson Parker scored 5 of his 7 points in the second stanza as the Falcons were down just 28-25 at intermission.

Glenbard North extended the advantage in the third quarter, but the Falcons closed the gap and were within 39-37 with 3:32 remaining in the game.

Then Hernandez took over.

First the senior sank a layup, then 30 seconds later was fouled and hit two free throws.

Hernandez followed that with an offensive rebound and putback and just like that, it was 45-37 with 2:11 left.

Wheaton North wouldn’t score again as the Panthers closed the game out at the free-throw line.

“When it comes down to it, you’ve got to keep your composure and have that ‘next play’ mentality,” said Crues after the Panthers reeled off the final 12 points of the contest.

“There’s always going to be mistakes, but you’ve just got to forget about those mistakes.”

Connor Speers added 7 points for Wheaton North.

“We couldn’t get over the hump,” said Brackmann. “We couldn’t get that big defensive play or that big shot, and then it kind of snowballed in the last few minutes.”

Crues finished with 7 boards and 3 blocks to go along with his game-leading point total, while Hernandez had 9 points.

Now Hernandez, along with his teammates, is looking forward to the rest of the season.

“We had a great start to the year,” he said. “We were 8-0 before our first loss. Now we want to get on a winning streak, and go as far as we can through regionals and sectionals.

“Just take it a long way.”