Glenbard East 79, West Chicago 53
Not bad for a No. 15 seed.
Motivated by its freshly announced postseason path, Glenbard East stormed to a 79-53 DuPage Valley Conference boys basketball victory over West Chicago Friday in Lombard.
The Rams (11-9, 6-4), defending DVC champions and three-time regional champions, are out to prove they're better than the 15th seed they received in Thursday's Class 4A East Aurora sectional seeding meeting. They're slated to play a feed-in game Feb. 25 to earn a regional semifinal berth.
"It's a slap in our face, but it's just going to make us go harder now," said Rams senior guard Derak Stanback, who scored a team-high 16 points. "This is the most important part of the season. We have to make sure we're sharp in everything we do."
There was nothing dull about Glenbard East's effort against the Wildcats (1-21, 0-11). The Rams made 16 of 23 first-half shots while building a 41-25 halftime lead.
West Chicago tried to keep pace from the perimeter led by four 3-pointers from C.J. Opel, who scored a game-high 18 points, and seven 3s as a team. Midway through the third quarter, however, a mini-run by the Rams boosted the margin above 20 points to stay.
Glenbard East scored at least 19 points in every quarter as 13 players scored overall. The game-long offensive outburst -- from the post to the perimeter and in transition -- proved too potent for the Wildcats.
"Offensively, the kids did everything we asked them to and talked about," said Wildcats coach Kevin Gimre. "But defensively it was not our best. We just can't do that. It certainly wasn't from lack of trying, but it just wasn't intense enough on defense."
Both benches carried the load for most of the fourth quarter, allowing 22 different players to score. Stanback led four Glenbard East players in double-digit scoring, a list that included Paul Sanders with 12 points and Ben Trefilek and Lee Skinner with 10 points apiece.
Clark Hudmon tallied 9 points off the bench for the Wildcats before fouling out in the fourth quarter.
In an effort to seal a top-half finish in the DVC, the Rams will travel Monday to Wheaton Warrenville South for a makeup game.
"The biggest thing is we wanted to come out with a lot of energy, and I thought we did that," said Rams coach Scott Miller. "If we put it together, we can beat some good teams."