Zion-Benton 88, Buffalo Grove 67

Zion-Benton sophomore Lenzelle Smith is going to cause a lot of high school basketball coaches to have nightmares thinking about how to defend him for the rest of his career. Tuesday, it was Buffalo Grove's turn to see how he can dominate a game.

The 6-foot-3 Smith scored 21 of his game-high 30 points in the second half and pulled down 14 rebounds to lead top-seeded Zion-Benton to an 88-67 victory over No. 5 Buffalo Grove in the Barrington Class 4A sectional semifinals.

The Zee Bees (29-3) will play Friday against the winner of tonight's Schaumburg-Highland Park semifinal.

The Bison (20-9) went on a 17-8 run that cut a 52-38 deficit to 60-55 with 6:30 left in the game, and that's when Smith took over, scoring 11 of his 14 fourth-quarter points down the stretch, including a spectacular one-handed stuff on an alley-oop play that turned into a 3-point play when he was fouled.

The Zee-Bees exploded for 31 points in the fourth quarter, when the Bison were forced to put up shots early in possessions in order to cut into the deficit. Rodney Clinkscales scored 9 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter for Z-B.

"They're so talented offensively," said BG guard Brian DeSimone, who scored 16 points despite being slowed by a severely bruised knee suffered in the regional final on Friday. "We held them in the first half, and then their offense took over in the second half.

"They have so many weapons, it's hard to stop them," DeSimone said.

"They were one of the most athletic teams we've played all year," said senior Mike Ricciardi, whose 25 points led the Bison. "In the end, they started hitting."

The Bison trailed 20-19 after one quarter and 35-30 at halftime, but the Zee-Bees ran off 7 quick points to start the third quarter and led 42-30.

"We executed very well offensively in the first half," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. "Defensively, they were able to get to the basket more than we would have preferred.

"They have so many guys who can break you down off the dribble," O'Connor said. "Smith hit some big 3s. That was something we were willing to concede, and he took advantage of it."

For his part, Smith preferred to talk about the team and other parts of his game, rather than the points.

"We knew the difference would be rebounding and defense," Smith said. "That was a good team. We knew we had to play defense.

"(Offensive rebounding) is what we consider separates us from other teams," Smith said. "The second shots lead to a lot of points."

"We've been a pretty good rebounding team," Z-B coach Don Kloth said of his team's 30-16 rebounding margin. "Everybody who played tonight contributed in a positive way."

Chris Timberg scored 12 points, draining four 3-pointers, and Paul Timko scored 9 for the Bison. Ronald Steward scored 15 and Quintrell Love 12 for the Zee-Bees.