Barrington tops Meadows in matchup of MSL leaders
It was tuneup time for the Mid-Suburban League division leaders Tuesday in Rolling Meadows.
West division leader Barrington got off to a fast start behind Adam Baird. The Broncos then held off numerous rallies by Rolling Meadows to post a 62-58 win.
“We knew we were going to have our hands full,” Barrington coach Bryan Tucker said. “I am really proud of our kids for just keep battling and executing.”
Baird, who is a junior, scored 12 of his 13 points in the first half. Six of those points came on a 15-3 run for the Broncos (12-3) as they broke away from an 8-8 tie in the first quarter to lead 23-11 early in the second.
“I was making some good cuts off the drive and getting open and my teammates were getting me the ball,” Baird said. “I was then able to make some easy layups.”
Meadows (13-3) showed that it had the ability to come back, as the Mustangs closed to 25-20 on a putback by Lazar Lazarevic. But Barrington maintained control, closing the half with a 7-2 run to lead 32-23 at the break.
Meadows opened the second half with a barrage of three-point baskets. Lazarevic had one to start the shooting flurry. He was then followed by Jaeden Warrener, one by Ian Miletic, and then another from Warrener as the Mustangs cut the lead to 36-35 midway through the third quarter.
Barrington was able to push the lead back to 44-38 after three quarters thanks to a three-pointer by Ian Tepas.
Meadows again forced the issue. The Mustangs were able to get the lead down to 44-42 on a pair of free throws by Miletic with 7:10 to play.
Barrington then put together a 7-0 run that began with a three by Alec Schmidts and ended with a basket and three-pointer by Oliver Gray to make it 52-42 with 5:57 left.
Meadows tried to fight back, and got the lead down to four on two occasions. But each time, Barrington would counter with a defensive stop.
Leading 56-52 with 1:10 to play, Barrington forced a turnover. That would led to five free throws down the stretch as Barrington opened up a 61-52 lead with 34.5 seconds to play.
Meadows’ Gavin Escobedo, who had not taken a shot up until that point, knocked down a pair of threes while Peipert added a free throw to close out the scoring.
“Defense is one of the first things we install in the first week of basketball,” said Peipert, who was part of that defensive wall for Barrington.
“In the summer we do defensive slides. It is tough practices, but it get us in condition.”
Gray led Barrington with 15 points. Schmidts finished with a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Peipert and Tepas each had 8 points while Gabriel Gueyikian had five points.
“Our defense was able to make some stops,” Tucker said. “And that's tough to do against a team like Rolling Meadows where everyone is a threat.”
Miletic led Meadows with 20 points while Warrener had 16 points. Lazarevic had 9 points and 9 rebounds and Ryan Meyer had five points.
“They did a great job,” Rolling Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said. “They were better than us and out-executed us. We were going uphill all night and you have to give them credit for that.”