Harrington's hot hand leads Glenbard South over Elgin
Going into the season, Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke wasn't quite sure what to expect from senior center Ryan Harrington.
"Ryan's been….," Hardtke paused for a moment and a smile spread across his face. "Big." Another pause. "And that's been it."
Friday night in Elgin, the 6-4 Harrington showed his coach a little more: he was big and effective - and if he wasn't quite dominant, he could see it from his real estate in the low post.
Harrington made 7 of the 11 shots he took, added three free throws in four tries and pretty much had his way in the paint as the Raiders romped over the Maroons, 63-31.
Harrington's 17 points led all scorers, and Cole Hardtke added a dozen. Elgin (2-4, 0-2) got a half-dozen apiece from starters Trey Yarber, Darien Jackson and Kejuan Harvey.
"We played really tough defense tonight," said Harrington, like his coach a smile plastered all over his face. "I felt really good out there. I was able to get into position and the guys just got me the ball."
The Maroons continued their trend of futility in the face of pressure defenses and poor ballhandling. They turned the ball over 14 times in the first half (they had 24 for the game), and Glenbard South seemed to capitalize on every one.
"Yep, we're really struggling against pressure," assessed Maroons coach David Hess. "Tonight was a lot like last week (a 65-52 loss against East Aurora). We're not handling the ball well and we're making poor decisions. But I give them a lot of credit - they've got five senior starters and they're well coached. But when you turn the ball over that much, it's really hard to get your defense."
The Raiders' defense was clicking from the get-go. Elgin scored the first basket of the game, and that was their largest - and last - lead. Glenbard South ripped off 10 unanswered points to take a 10-2 lead just over three minutes into the game.
Jeffrey Lomax (5 points) stopped the bleeding for Elgin, but Harrington closed the quarter with a three-point play when he scored on a layup and drew a foul against Jackson, the second time in the quarter Harrington converted under the basket and was fouled for three the old-fashioned way.
As the Maroons continued to cough the ball up, the Glenbard South lead, 19-9 after one, grew steadily, to 37-19 at halftime.
In the third, it was apparent that the Raiders were determined to get the ball inside to Harrington, who scored 7 of their first 10 points in the period. The Raiders, who shot 53 percent (25 of 47) from the floor on the night, closed the period with a 9-1 run to lead 53-26 after three, and it was all but over.
"We really wanted to establish the inside game early," said coach Hardtke, "but we did a good job of taking what they gave us in the first half. I really thought that our defensive intensity sparked our offense, and that was a nice surprise. We preach defense all the time, and they showed it tonight. We're really balanced right now. It's nice."