DeKalb 51, Glenbard South 46

Fresh off the highest of highs, the Glenbard South boys basketball team came out a little flat Friday night.

So flat that not even a wild rally late could prevent the Raiders from dropping a 51-46 Western Sun Conference contest with visiting DeKalb. The Barbs, who moved into a tie for second place with Geneva at 8-3 in league play, completed a sweep over Glenbard South (12-9, 6-5) in large part by stopping the Raiders with a 2-3 zone defense.

"We came in a little flat and their zone made us flatter," said Raiders coach Wade Hardtke, whose squad knocked off first-place and state-ranked Batavia on Tuesday. "They disrupted us. They sat back in their 2-3 zone and dared us to shoot from the perimeter."

And in this game the dare paid off for DeKalb. The Raiders shot just 15 of 59 from the floor, including 3 of 23 from 3-point range. Even so, the teams went to the locker room at the break even at 23 after Brian Smith hit a 3 in the waning seconds. Earlier in the first half, Glenbard South center Andy Manson had scored 8 of his team-high 15 points, including a couple baskets on nice spin moves past DeKalb's 6-foot-10 sophomore, Jordan Threloff.

But the Barbs seemed to take control of the game when speedy guard Jon Umoren scored 8 of his 16 points in the third quarter and Grant Olsen added a 3 as DeKalb moved ahead 38-31 after three quarters of play. With Olsen hitting back-to-back 3s midway through the fourth quarter, the Barbs had a 46-33 lead and were on a 23-10 second-half run.

Glenbard South, however, still had plenty of fight left and used a full-court trapping defense to harass DeKalb into enough turnovers to allow the Raiders to close to within 49-46 with 34.2 seconds left to go following a Manson free throw. The 13-3 surge included a 3-pointer by Brian Baranyi and a pair of buckets from Manson. But Baranyi also had two other long-range shots roll in and out in the final two minutes, and Threloff scored a layup and added one free throw late to help hold off the Raiders.

"We didn't come out and play hard, and then the shots just weren't falling," said Raiders guard Louis Erkins, who had 5 rebounds in the game as well as 2 key steals late. "(The Barbs) came out hard in the second half, but we always play hard until the end of the buzzer. We just wanted to finish strong."

DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman got a big night from his big man, as Threloff finished with 13 points, 16 rebounds and 6 blocks, yet the Raiders defense almost brought them all the way back by forcing 20 second-half turnovers.

"We didn't take care of the basketball very well at all," Rohlman said. "But I think you have to give credit to Wade's defense. They've gotten a lot better on defense."