Composure taking Glenbard East downstate
DEKALB — Glenbard East thrives on what coaches refer to as senior urgency.
What truly drives the Rams, though, is senior composure.
They showed it time and again in Tuesday's 63-51 win over Rockford Auburn in the Class 4A Northern Illinois University supersectional, a win that sends Glenbard East (27-3) to the state semifinals to face Simeon (28-2) at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Peoria.
“Our coaches have done a great job preaching that,” said Johnny Hill, one of four starting seniors on the team. “Composure, composure, composure. That's been our talk throughout this whole postseason.”
Composure isn't normally quantifiable. It's intangible, a permeating feeling that defuses inevitable tension on the basketball court.
Against a charging Auburn team, though, you could find the Rams' composure right there on the stat sheet. They shot an incredible 19 of 20 from the free-throw line, including 12-of-12 fourth-quarter shooting as the Knights crept closer.
“We've shot well all year,” said Rams coach Scott Miller, “but that's crazy.”
Glenbard East made 9 of 13 first-quarter shots from the field to break out to an early lead that never fell below 3 points. For the game they shot 53 percent.
Even though the Rams made only three baskets in the game's final 11 minutes, 17 free throws from five different players more than did the job.
“I think it's a credit to all of these guys on the team,” Hill said. “One guy out there can't do it alone. We all need to be doing our jobs and just staying in control.”
It's true the Rams had problems holding on to the ball at times, but a glance at the stats shows another fact. The committed 11 turnovers on the night but only 2 in the fourth quarter with senior leaders Zach Miller and Hill taking care of the bulk of the ballhandling.
When the Knights (26-5) narrowed the gap to 51-48 early in the fourth quarter, there was no panic. Only composure.
“It's not just me and Johnny,” Zach Miller said. “Tyree (York), (Steve) Kinney, (Kevin) Priebe. Dante Bailey's grown up so much over the past three weeks. We've talked about composure every day.”
Zach Miller said a major motivator was last season's loss to Benet in the sectional final when Glenbard East fell as a top seed. It wasn't so much that the Rams lost but how they lost.
They vowed to not let it happen again.
“We felt like in that game we kind of lost our composure and we were doing some frantic things,” he said. “This year we may have had a couple of spurts where we lost it a little bit, but we all look at each other and pull it together.”
Tuesday's win wasn't the first time Glenbard East showed this kind of stoical attitude. The Rams held off an upset bid from Naperville Central in the regional semifinals and rolled through their next three games.
They capped off their first sectional title since 1964 by beating East Aurora on its home court. Talk about a pressure cooker.
They looked at ease again on Tuesday even when Auburn pushed its hardest.
During a break in play late in the game Zach Miller looked into the stands, rubbed his forearm and said “ice,” referring to the ice water flowing through his teammates' veins.
There's obviously a lot more than that going on in those big hearts, but after Tuesday's win it's also clear that these are some cool customers.
“We believe in our guys and what they're able to do and how they execute,” Scott Miller said. “Our seniors have a lot of heart and desire, and they weren't going to be denied.”
kschmit@dailyherald.com