Stanback FTs seal Glenbard E. win
Glenbard East's Derak Stanback did not want to let his teammates down Friday night against Wheaton Warrenville South.
The Rams leading scorer was sent to the bench with 3:50 left in the third quarter after he picked up his third foul reaching in for a steal with the Rams leading by 1 point.
Stanback was given a chance to step up in a big way for Glenbard East -- from the foul line.
With 10.1 seconds remaining and the Rams (5-2, 2-1) up by 3, Stanback was fouled and went to the line to shoot a 1-and-1. Stanback calmly made the first free throw, making it virtually impossible for WW South to tie. Stanback then made the second, sealing the 44-37 victory. Tom Seagraves made two free throws with 1.2 seconds left to play for the final score.
"It was pretty simple: either I make the first free throw and seal it or miss and give them a chance to tie," Stanback said. "I am just glad that my teammates were able to keep us in the game. We had a lot of people step up for us tonight."
Seagraves was one of those people who stepped up. He scored 8 of his 14 points with Stanback on the bench during that stint in the second half. Senior Ben Trefilek also stepped up as he hit two 3-pointers in the second half to give the Rams leads both times. His first came early in the half to give Glenbard East a 23-20 lead.
His second was more important as he hit a 3 in the left corner to give the Rams a 36-35 lead with 5:10 remaining. After that 3-pointer, the Rams gave the lead up only one more time the rest of the way.
"Our team goal is not to have one player we rely on down the stretch," Seagraves said. "Last year we had Mike (Capocci) and this year we have myself, Derak and Ben. I like to think that three are better than one because then the defense doesn't know where the ball's going to go."
The Tigers (6-2, 1-2) tried to slow the game down every chance they got with some offensive possessions lasting more than two minutes. The Rams played solid defense through the slowed down game and caused turnovers that resulted in easy baskets. For the game WW South turned the ball over 19 times compared to the Rams' 9 turnovers.
"There was not a whole lot of importance with the ball tonight," WW South coach Mike Healy said. "We threw it all over the gym. When that happens it makes it very difficult to win tight ballgames."
Stanback had 12 points and Seagraves grabbed a team-high 7 rebounds in the win.
The Tigers' Stephen Mueller scored a team-high 10 points in the loss and Sam Carlson had 6 points and 8 rebounds.