Glenbard North turns up defense, defeats Wheaton North

After a sluggish second quarter Glenbard North found itself tied at halftime Friday night in Wheaton.

A more concerted defensive effort in the third quarter was the perfect tonic as Glenbard North pulled away for good en route to a 54-42 DuPage Valley Conference victory over host Wheaton North.

Glenbard North (4-2, 1-1) got off on the right foot as they held the slow-starting Falcons to just 6 points while taking a 13-6 lead after one quarter.

However, Wheaton North (4-3, 1-1) got contributions across the board in the second quarter as five Falcons hit the scoresheet in a 17-point effort to close the gap. Wheaton North capitalized from the free-throw line, going 7 of 7 to seize control and take the lead until a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Andrew Bergmann knotted the game at 23-23 going into the half.

Then the second half came and the Panthers held the Falcons to a paltry 5 points, including only 2 field goals.

" At halftime our coach gave us a speech saying defense is going to win the game, so that's what we tried our hardest at," Glenbard North junior forward Josh Fleming said. "They have a lot of great shooters so we knew we had to close on them. If we let a couple of their shooters get hot, that could be the game."

Fleming proved to be the catalyst for the Panthers, as he put in 9 second-half points to go with 6 second-half rebounds as Glenbard North opened the second half with a 10-0 run. Fleming finished with a game-high 14 points and 8 rebounds.

"I was just trying to lead my team to a victory," Fleming said. "It was our first conference win and we really wanted it."

Senior forward Nick Barry led Wheaton North with 9 points and 7 rebounds, but the Falcons' inability to hit both open point-blank chances and 3-pointers proved too costly to overcome.

"We tried to mix it up, going inside and outside," Barry said. "We weren't getting the ball inside enough and we weren't shooting the ball well outside. We didn't play well as a team tonight. I don't think they have a better team than us, but they were the better team tonight."