Bartlett comes back to beat East Aurora

After beating East Aurora 56-45 earlier in the season, the host Bartlett boys basketball team didn't expect to trail nearly the entire game in the rematch Saturday.

That's just what the Hawks faced, but a solid defensive effort in the fourth quarter helped spark a rally which ended in a 45-42 Bartlett win over the Tomcats (2-19, 1-8) in Upstate Eight Valley Division play.

The Hawks (11-12, 3-6) trailed 20-12 at halftime, faced as great as a 13-point deficit in the third quarter and trailed 36-25 heading into the fourth, but Bartlett forced 9 turnovers in the final period and Jonathan Leigeber (12 points, 5 rebounds) scored the final 10 points of the game to complete the rally.

"We definitely played better defense in the fourth quarter, and I think their inexperience showed down the stretch," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith. "We hustled and played with heart."

Trailing 42-35 with 2:54 left on the clock, Leigeber hit a 3-pointer off a Billy Kramer (5 rebounds) assist. Kramer then had a steal to set up a second straight 3 for Leigeber off a Lorenzo Mitchell (8 rebounds) assist to pull the Hawks to 42-41 with 2:04 left.

"I knew I had to keep shooting," Leigeber said. "After I hit the first one I knew the next was going to fall. We know we're a good team, and we showed it down the stretch."

Leigeber had a steal on the inbound and was fouled and after hitting both from the line, with 1:34 remaining, Bartlett had its first lead of the game at 43-42.

The Tomcats ran down the clock and had a chance on a shot, but Laquan Brown's attempt missed and Mitchell came down with the rebound. Leigeber then completed the scoring with a layup.

"(Bartlett) finally stepped up and hit their shots," said Tomcats coach Wendell Jeffries. "After that, we just didn't step up. We need somebody to step up and want the ball down the stretch."

Tyree Willis tallied 10 points, Tyrone Savage 8 and DeJon Talbert 7 to lead East Aurora.

Matt Chaltin tallied a game-high 20 points for Bartlett. Chaltin tallied 8 of the Hawks' 12 first-half points and added 8 more in the third including a pair of treys.

"This is definitely a confidence boost," Chaltin said. "Definitely a game we needed going down the stretch and into the postseason."

Barrington 59, CL South 53: Barrington senior Mark Bennett couldn't remember having so much time to shoot around at halftime of a game.

Usually there is little if any time before the second half starts. But this wasn't a reward for the Broncos' play in the first 16 minutes of their nonconference home boys basketball game.

Coach Bryan Tucker's return to the court with six minutes left in intermission basically spoke volumes about their 3-point deficit to Crystal Lake South.

The Broncos got the message loud and clear by turning its pressure defense into an 11-point lead after three quarters and holding on for a 59-53 victory.

"It was a special talk," Bennett said with a smile. "We came out pretty flat.

"We had poor decision-making overall and went back to a lot of the things we had corrected throughout the year. It was disappointing."

But it fueled a 23-9 third-quarter outburst where Bennett scored 8 of his 21 points for the Broncos (15-7).

The change was evident almost immediately when Bennett and Scott Nelson were scrambling all over the floor to force one of 8 third-quarter turnovers by the Gators (6-14).

"I was a little disappointed with that and there was nothing new to say," Tucker said of the Gators' 22-19 halftime lead as Max Meitzler scored 10 of his 21 points and hit two of his three 3s. "We played with a little more energy, got a few bounces and took care of the ball. We snapped out of it."

"We talked about it at halftime that they're really aggressive trapping the first pass and bringing their deep guys up," said CL South coach Dan DeBruycker. "After we handled it a little better we got some layups but it took too long to do that."

It only took a couple of minutes for the Gators to get back in the game with a 6-point run. A drive by Alex Bartusch cut the deficit to 50-48 with 2:20 to play.

But Brad Zaumseil found Nelson for a layup and 3-point play six seconds later. Carroll, Bennett and Zaumseil combined to hit 6 of 8 free throws in the final 1:46.

Marty Maciaszek

Burlington Central 67, Harvard 52: Ryan Ritchie scored 24 points and Bryce Warner added 16 as the Rockets (14-9, 5-2) got off to a 13-0 start and never looked back in this Big Northern East win. Ray Hunnicutt added 11 points for BC, which has won six of its last seven games.

Rockford Christian Life 59, Westminster Christian 49: Josh Beachler had 17 points to lead the Warriors (12-11, 5-3) in this NAC loss. Will Woodhouse added 12 points for Westminster.