Glenbard West 55, Wheaton North 50
How tough will it be to pry that Glenbard West uniform away from John Shurna?
About as hard as it is to pry a rebound away from him.
Led by another dominant night from their Northwestern-bound 6-foot-8 senior, the Hilltoppers' boys basketball team upset Wheaton North 55-50 in overtime in Tuesday's Class 4A Naperville North regional semifinals.
Shurna wowed the crowd by scoring a game-high 29 points and pulling down 22 rebounds. It took every bit of that monster effort for No. 13 Glenbard West (15-12) to edge the No. 4 Falcons (20-7) and 6-7 senior John Bagge, Shurna's friendly rival who countered with 27 points.
The Hilltoppers advance to Friday's final to play tonight's winner between Naperville Central and Geneva.
"You don't know when your last game is going to be so you've just got to lay it all out there," Shurna said. "It was just a big game, and we're pretty excited right now. We've just got to get ready for Friday now."
An 8-0 third-quarter run allowed Glenbard West to build a 33-20 lead on Shurna's steal and basket. Wheaton North chipped away until Bagge scored early in the fourth quarter to knot the score at 37-37.
"We've had so many close games in our conference," said Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder. "Even though you're disappointed that you don't finish some of those games, you learn from them. That paid off tonight."
Seven lead changes followed until Shurna split a pair of free throws to tie it at 46-46 with 1:23 left. Wheaton North milked the clock, but a missed 3-pointer gave the Hilltoppers the ball with 3.7 seconds left. Shurna's jumper went off the mark to send the game to overtime.
Dave Pilalis hit a 3-pointer to briefly give Wheaton North a 49-47 lead in overtime, but Glenbard West closed on an 8-1 run that featured 6-of-8 free-throw shooting.
Wheaton North had the ball trailing 53-50 with about 40 seconds left and worked the clock down to under 10 seconds. Glenbard West senior guard Shane Bryant then made a heady play by fouling Pilalis with 5.3 seconds left, sending him to the line instead of allowing the Falcons to take a potentially game-tying 3-point attempt.
The front end of the 1-and-1 missed, and Tyler Warden, who scored 11 points off the bench, hit a pair of free throws as Glenbard West sealed the win.
"Once the postseason starts you throw all the records out and all the seedings out, especially with teams with big-time players like Shurna," Bagge said. "It's just a different energy."
Tom Fitzpatrick -- one of five senior starters for Wheaton North -- tallied 10 points before fouling out.
"It's a tough loss. I'll forever remember these seniors," said Falcons coach Jim Nazos. "They'll be missed."