Boys basketball: Gray’s buzzer-beater lifts Barrington over Maine South
The big question that both Barrington and Maine South need to answer in their Saturday evening nonconference contest was how would either team respond from each having endured a tough road divisional defeat the night before.
The Hawks saw a second-half lead in its Central Suburban South game at Deerfield slip away prior to falling in overtime while the Broncos lost at Fremd eliminating them from the Mid-Suburban West title hunt.
After trailing through the first 24 minutes of play and battling a pugilistic Maine South squad to finally catch up and overtake them on their senior night, Barrington would still need an Oliver Gray three at the buzzer to leave Park Ridge victorious 75-72 to move their record to 16-7.
"I knew I wanted that shot and as soon as I took it I knew it was going in," Gray said just after his game-winning heroics which had taken place after South junior guard Panayiotis Sotos tied the game at 72 with a pair of free throws after having been fouled attempting a three with 7 ticks left in regulation.
Using a senior-laden starting quintet consisting of guards Tyler Sierra and Jack Williams, and forwards Filip Rasic, A.J. Liss and Jack Sladky, the Hawks (11-15) built a 22-15 advantage after one and 35-25 at the break. They used an 8-of-20 effort from beyond the arc while holding the Broncos to just 2 of 8 and 11 of 27 from the field overall.
Enter Barrington guards Chris Tacher and Gray to the fray as each would play a very role in the second-half comeback.
First up it would be Tacher, a senior transfer from Elgin Academy, as he tallied 13 of his game-high 26 points in the third that brought the visitors within 51-48 entering the fourth.
Gray then took his turn as he would score 14 of his 25 in the final quarter including 9 points during a 12-5 run that gave Barrington a 69-62 lead with 2:30 left. Maine South made a late 10-3 surge that came all from Sotos before Gray's game-winning three.
"These kids get that it's one possession at a time," Broncos coach Bryan Tucker said. "We dug ourselves a hole and we had to fight our of it and we did. We were fortunate."
Williams led South with 15 followed by Sierra and Skadky with 11 apiece.
Williams spoke of his squad's never-say-die attitude that he believes could make them a team to be on the lookout for in the Class 4A New Trier sectional complex when tournament play starts in a couple of weeks.
"This game for the seniors was special,“ Williams said. ”We all came out just hitting shots. That's why this game was close. This season we've had a lot of ups and downs and we're starting to catch fire. We don't quit (and) I think we're right there."