Boys basketball: Glenbard North stays on top of DuKane standings

Glenbard North senior Kristian D’Alexander played defensive stopper extraordinaire for Glenbard North Friday night at Lake Park, while junior teammate Lamari Carpenter took care of business on the offensive end.

It all added up to a 66-51 DuKane Conference win for the Panthers, who improved to 19-6 overall and 9-2 in league play. They stayed atop the DuKane standings with the triumph.

D’Alexander, who said he sees himself as more of an “assists guy”, came off the bench in the first quarter after Lake Park senior Max Alvarado had hit two long 3-pointers to cut a double-digit Panthers lead to 14-12.

Alvarado didn’t score again until the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to D'Alexander, and Carpenter scored a game-high 26 points to lead his team to the victory.

“We just locked down (tonight),” said D’Alexander, “made sure we got our shots, and played good defense."

Carpenter scored 9 points in the first quarter to pace Glenbard North to a quick start.

“I think we played well,” Carpenter said. “The first time we played them (on Dec. 19), we only won by five (a 51-46 Panthers win). We came out with a dog mentality tonight.”

Panthers teammate Matt Welch, a senior who finished with 8 points in the game, said that Carpenter had an “amazing night.”

“He’s a great player,” added Welch. “I’m sure we’re going to see great things from him in the future.”

Lake Park senior Freddy Battaglia had a terrific game for the Lancers on senior night. He tallied 25 points and kept his side in the game until a run by Glenbard North in the third quarter put the contest out of reach.

He said that the defeat rested all on “the defensive end” for his squad.

“Our defense feeds our offense,” he added, “and we really didn’t get any stops tonight. We just struggled to get the offense going.”

The Lancers came into the game with a 12-13 record (they’re now 12-14, 2-9 in conference), but that mark is deceiving as 8 of those losses have come by 5 points or less.

“We’ve had so many close games where we’re right there,” said Battaglia. “We’ve just got to find a way to overcome that. It’s the whole game, not just the final play. The whole game we’ve got to pick things up and get better.”

Glenbard North led just 33-26 at halftime, but went on a 21-8 run in the third stanza to put the game on ice.

A 12-footer in the lane by Caeden Chilton gave the Panthers a 40-30 lead early in the period, and they opened up a 54-32 advantage after a 3-pointer by D’Alexander.

Carpenter started the fourth quarter with a 3 to extend the Glenbard North lead. The Lancers fought back late but couldn’t get any closer than the final score.

“I thought they (Glenbard North) really came out aggressive,” said Lake Park sophomore Brennan Shannon, “and they used that to lock in defensively.”

Shannon added that he came into the game wanting to “play his heart out” for the seniors on their night.

“They’ve given so much to me,” said the sophomore, “that I wanted to give back to them.”

Alvarado came away with 9 points for Lake Park, while junior Oturo Redento, a 6-6 Panthers guard, scored 19 points and had a game-high 8 rebounds.

“They (Lake Park) are our rivals,” said Welch, “so we wanted to come out hot and stay hot. That was the plan.”