Boys basketball: Marynowski, Nee lead Glenbard East’s second half surge past West Aurora in UEC title game

Glenbard East senior Jacob Marynowski wasn’t exactly a happy camper in the first quarter Tuesday night at West Aurora.

The 6-foot-3 forward, one of the starting five for the Rams, picked up two quick fouls in the opening period and was relegated to the bench.

“I knew I messed up,” said Marynowski. “I took a quick foul, my first one, over the back (of one of the Blackhawks). Just a dumb move, and I’ve got to stay composed sometimes.”

Marynowski watched as West Aurora opened up a 9-point lead in the second stanza, and the Blackhawks, playing with confidence, still led 35-30 at intermission.

No worries, though, for the senior and his teammates. They stormed back in the second half, and Marynowski led the charge.

He scored three quick buckets in the paint to open the third period, and classmate Michael Nee, a 6-3 guard, tallied 12 of his game-high 30 points in the third as the Rams outscored West Aurora 26-7 in the quarter.

They went on to a 74-55 Upstate Eight conference championship game win.

“”We talked (at halftime) about staying more composed,” Marynowski, “and how we've got to stick together and talk. We didn’t rush (in the second half) so less turnovers.”

Six-4 senior Drew Lundberg scored a team-high 14 points for the Blackhawks, but all of those came in the first half as Glenbard East locked down on defense in the final 16 minutes.

“In the first half we had energy,” said Blackhawks coach Mike Fowler. “We were locked in, we were defending, we were switching a lot of things trying to get out to the Nee kid and some of the other kids.

“We were scoring the basketball, but coming out in the third quarter, we weren’t converting point-blank layups or rebounding the basketball. That really hurts you, especially against a team like Glenbard East that can shoot. They won’t go away, and you can’t really relax on them because of their ability to knock down shots.”

West Aurora, which finished first in the Upstate Eight West division with an 11-1 record, came out of the opening tip on fire, and when Orlando Edwards had a steal and an end-to-end layup, the score stood 25-16 early in the second quarter.

Glenbard East, winners of the East division (also at 11-1) came to within 5 at the break, then closed the gap even further after intermission and took the lead for good when a 3-pointer from senior Danny Snyder gave the Rams a 42-40 advantage.

“Defensively, we kind of ramped up the pressure,” said Nee. “”First half we were kind of struggling with finishing layups, and getting inside. The first thing that comes to your mind when you’re doing that is to get easy buckeys from defense. We turned up the ‘D’ in the second half that helped us get to the rim easier. That started up our offense, and from there we kept flowing.”

The Rams, now 27-3 overall on the year, poured it on the remainder of the third period and opened up a 56-42 lead after a layup from Nee with 10 seconds left. They extended that to 20 points late in the fourth on a dunk by Marynowski (12 points, all in the second half) enroute to the win.

Snyder scored 19 points for the visitors, while 6-6 senior Sam Walton was a terror on the boards with 14 rebounds.

“Feels amazing,” said Nee of the victory. “Last year they (West Aurora) beat us at our place (for the title), so tonight was kind of a little bit of revenge."

Travis Brown scored 12 points for the Blackhawks (18-13), while Edwards had 9.

“I don’t know what it is,” added coach Fowler of the second-half turnaround in the contest. “Sometimes we just lack focus in scoring right at the basket, and that kills us.”