Cook busts loose, helps Glenbard East to win over East Aurora
Glenbard East boys basketball coach Scott Miller anticipated Deon Cook to have a breakout game in the near future.
He got his wish on Thursday.
On a cold and frigid night, the Glenbard East junior point guard scored a personal-high 24 points to lead the Rams to a 72-64 win over East Aurora in Upstate Eight Conference action in Lombard.
Alijah Nelson added 15 points, Antonio Davis tallied 14 and DaRon Hall scored 12 to lead a balanced effort for the Rams. Jules Williamson scored 20 to spark the Tomcats.
"(Deon) has been building for this since Christmas," Miller said. "He did a great job and had the best game of his career. I thought in the second quarter we were outstanding. Deon Cook was fantastic."
The Rams (10-11, 6-6) rode a strong second quarter by Cook to pull away from the Tomcats (7-15, 5-6) in a key matchup between two teams hovering in the middle of the pack in the conference.
The 5-foot-11 Cook broke open a 19-19 game by scoring on a tip-in, two layups and a putback basket in the second quarter to give the Rams a 43-32 edge at halftime. Cook said his previous best was 15 points in a home win over Elk Grove earlier this season.
"From Christmas, Coach really emphasized to me about not turning over the ball, so I could score more and help the team," Cook said. "My teammates got rebounds and helped me get open shots."
The Rams built a 59-41 lead on three 3-pointers by Nelson, a layup from Mitch Glennon and a three-point play from Cook with 53.7 seconds left in the third. But the Rams suddenly went cold, enduring a nearly five-minute stretch without a field goal. The Tomcats, behind a hot-shooting quarter from Williamson, sliced the deficit to 64-59 with three minutes left. Cook scored on a baseline drive and added a free throw to pad the lead to 67-59 with 1:25 left. Cook added two more free throws with just over a minute left.
"We went small, felt like it was tough to guard us and made some good decisions with the basketball," Miller said. "Fortunately, we were able to hang on. We knew they were going to come after us in the second half."