Boys basketball: Abushanab, Glenbard West rise past Yorkville into second round of Tosh Holiday Classic

Josh Abushanab tried a dunk Friday that required a lot of athleticism, and a little attitude.

As Glenbard West’s 6-foot-5 senior raced into the lane, a Yorkville player stood in his path. Hardly bothered, Abushanab soared over him to try an emphatic one-handed dunk.

It went off the back of the rim. Even trying it was impressive.

“It was there. It was there,” Abushanab said with a smile. “The ball slipped out of my hands and I was like ‘man.’”

Abushanab is doing plenty above, and below the rim these days for a Glenbard West team that seems to be finding its identity.

He just missed a double-double Friday with 23 points and eight rebounds. Abushanab made three key plays in succession in the teeth of the fourth quarter to ward off a Yorkville rally for a 53-43 win in the first round of the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic at York.

Glenbard West (4-6), rebounding from an 0-3 start to the season, advanced to face Metamora in Saturday’s second round.

“I feel like now everybody is finding their piece, everybody is finding their role,” Abushanab said. “We take it day by day. Every day we wake up looking to build.”

Abushanab is the foundation, the lone returner from last year’s rotation for a sectional champion.

An athletic, physical wing, Abushanab plays the point of Glenbard West’s 1-3-1. He also handles the point on offense.

But he also rebounds and hits 3-point shots, two of them Friday.

“I feel like I got to do a little of everything – distribute, defend, make shots," Abushanab said. “I’m up for the challenge. Whatever it takes.”

Glenbard West coach Jason Opoka, chatting afterward with former Hilltoppers’ star Caden Pierce, sees his current best player at the next level as well.

“Josh is a college basketball player. He is only going to continue to get better,” Opoka said. “We ask a lot of him. We need him to handle it, we need him to rebound, we need him to facilitate. And he does it with a smile on his face.”

After Yorkville cut an 18-point Glenbard West lead to 44-36 with 5:27 left, Abushanab came through with the three key plays.

He hit a corner 3-pointer, and at the other end deflected a pass and knocked the loose ball off a Yorkville player. And then he jumped over two players for a putback basket to get the margin back to 11.

“I love being that guy,” Abushanab said. “I feel like I have to step up and take the swing.”

“Winning plays,” Opoka said.

Brady Johnson added nine points and nine rebounds and Bennett Kammes nine points for Glenbard West. Sophomores Graham Martinson scored 16 points and Braydon Porter 15 for Yorkville (5-5).

The Hilltoppers, with several football players on their roster, looked the part in the first half. That physicality, and the 1-3-1, had the Foxes all out of sorts early.

Yorkville shot just 34% all totaled, 5-for-26 from three.

“Our identity has to be our physicality and our toughness and we have the guys that can do that. Multi-sport athletes,” Opoka said. “Our angles were great, gang rebounding was fantastic and that led to transition opportunities.”

Yorkville had just five made field goals and 14 turnovers in trailing 29-13 at halftime.

Porter’s transition basket with 36 seconds left in the third quarter cut the margin to eight, where the Foxes closed two more times but never got closer.

Chase Cavan’s coast-to-coast three-point play in the final seconds of the third quarter put Glenbard West back ahead by 11.

“It seemed like we were bothered by their physicality more than anything and because of that we let it affect how we attacked their 1-3-1,” Yorkville coach John Holakovsky said. “We didn’t pass it very well, we didn’t cut very well, we didn’t screen very well. We saw in the second half we did a better job and it was based on how we played.”

Martinson, while not as touted as Yorkville’s two other sophomores in its rotation, continued his strong play with nine of the Foxes’ 13 points in the first half.

Alonn Flint sparked Yorkville’s late rally with five steals.

“Graham has been doing that, but he shouldn’t be the one leading the way,” Holakovsky said. “He’s done a great job and I’m happy about that, but we need other guys to step up. Alonn, that is who he is, he is a hustle guy, he makes plays like that. Wish it was a little earlier from our guys.”