Rockford Boylan's big effort bounces Barrington

It's difficult enough trying to compete with a tall, deep and unbeaten Rockford Boylan boys basketball team.

It's even tougher with three of your starters on the bench in the first quarter in foul trouble.

Boylan exploited that advantage Wednesday night in a championship bracket semifinal at Jacobs' Hinkle Holiday Classic, claiming a 72-55 win over a game but outmanned Barrington (8-6) squad.

Balanced scoring, pressure defense and a revolving door of substitutions helped the Titans outlast the foul-plagued Broncos.

"We fought really hard," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker, whose team generally has success at this holiday tournament. "We ran into a really good team."

After a tight first quarter, Boylan took control and never let go.

Zach Cooper, who seemed to never miss a shot (11 of 11 at the free throw line), completed a Titan run of 11 straight with a 3-pointer. And after Jackson Perkins (6 points) and Ben Weber (game-high 26) answered for Barrington, Anthony Foreman (16 points), with a jumper, and Angelo Seminerio, with a steal for a layin, put Boylan up by double digits at the half.

Even after foul-troubled Mickey O'Donnell hit a 3 to open the second half and Perkins scored again on a feed from Will Reinhard (10 points), Cooper had a driving 3-point play and Sam Fehrle added two free throws to make it a double-digit cushion again after three.

Barrington, with Reinhard in foul trouble and O'Donnell and Brett Budzak eventually fouling out, never recovered as Boylan hit 14 of 16 free throws in the fourth quarter and 24 of 27 for the game. Any time Weber ignited a Bronco run, a combination of Cooper free throws, jumpers from Luke McDermott (17 points) or slick moves from Foreman stunted the effort.

Weber, a little gimpy after the game, said the Broncos need to be better with the basketball after committing 17 turnovers.

Plus, the Broncos are just working 6-foot-7 Ethan Small back into the lineup after he missed nine days. Barrington played most of the game with a makeshift lineup thanks to the foul problems. Still, they got good efforts off the bench from Small, Justin Spiegel and Bart Susol.

"We always play hard," said Weber. "They're a tall team."

And with that height comes good shooting. Boylan size edge caused matchup problems for the Broncos all night.

Barrington plays Jacobs for third place overall on Saturday at 6 p.m.