Boys basketball: No. 1 seed Glenbard West edges Addison Trail in double overtime
It was a day too early to call it March Madness, but February Frenzy seemed fitting.
Top-seeded Glenbard West (26-5) survived a scare from No. 9 Addison Trail, outlasting the Blazers, 74-73 in double overtime to capture a Class 4A regional basketball title Friday night in Addison.
Looking for its first regional championship since 1980, the Blazers (17-15) did everything in their power before coming up a play or two short.
Trailing 26-14 midway through the second quarter, Addison Trail closed the half on a 15-0 run, highlighted with a pair of 3-pointers from senior guard Luke Smith sandwiched around Manny Roque’s 3-pointer, to grab a 29-26 halftime advantage.
Down 50-45 following an inside bucket from Hilltoppers post player Mike O’Connell with 5 minutes remaining, the Blazers clawed their way back, eventually forcing overtime on Smith’s step-back 3-pointer with 35 seconds left in regulation — the only time Glenbard went from its 1-3-1 zone defense to a man-to-man.
“Our identity is our 1-3-1,” said Glenbard coach Jason Opoka. “We knew Luke is a great isolation player — you saw that on that one possession. We thought if we could keep him in front and make somebody else beat us, then we’ll tip our caps.”
Smith canned a 3-pointer off the opening tip in the first OT to give the Blazers a 57-54 lead.
Trailing 59-55, the Hilltoppers scored the next 7 points to go up 62-59 in the final minute following a layup and pair of free throws from senior guard Teyion Oriental (10 points, 6 rebounds).
The Blazers answered, as Matt Garcia (13 points) hit a 3-pointer to force a second overtime tied at 62-all.
The second extra session featured 3 ties and 4 lead changes — the last coming when Oriental split a pair of free throws to put Glenbard on top, 74-72 with 9.5 seconds left.
Addison’s final possession saw Smith facing triple-team pressure but finding Garcia, who was fouled on a jumper in the paint with one-tenth of a second remaining,
After Garcia hit the first free throw, Opoka burned a timeout.
The strategy paid off, as the second foul shot rimmed out, sealing the decision for the Hilltoppers.
“We hadn’t won a regional for three years,” said Oriental. “We had to fight our hardest to win this game. It feels good. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs — a lot of injuries with Julian (Yeh) getting hurt midseason. We had to do it for him. We stick together.”
O’Connell, Glenbard’s 6-8, 290-pound behemoth off the bench, led the Hilltoppers with a season-high 24 points and 13 rebounds.
“My job is to provide good minutes,” he said. “Get down low and use my body, use my length to get rebounds. Whatever they need me to do — I’ll do it.”
“We knew we had a size advantage, so we wanted to bang it inside,” said Opoka, whose team advances to Tuesday’s St. Charles East sectional semifinal against Glenbard East.
“It came down to a mistake or two here or there. They (Blazers) played a heck of a game. It’s just unfortunate that one of the teams had to lose.”
TJ Williams added 12 points for Glenbard, while Logan Glover and Josh Abushanab had 9 and 8, respectively.
Smith, who scored a game-high 27 points, finished his career with 2,531 points — ranking 30th on the state’s all-time list.
Isaiah Cortes added 20 points for the Blazers.
“Other than winning, I’m as proud of them as I’ve ever been,” said Addison coach Brendan Lyons. “You play for moments and you play for opportunities. That was as good of an environment as we’ve had in years. There’s nothing to hang your heads about.
“Luke is as special of a player as I can imagine ever coaching. What he has meant to us for four years you can’t measure in numbers.”