Glenbard North quiets Batavia
Glenbard North's tenacious defense and balanced offense led to a 61-51 DuKane Conference win over Batavia Saturday night.
The Panthers clogged the middle of the lane making it difficult for the host Bulldogs to get the ball to their big men underneath and force shots from the perimeter that did not start falling until the second half.
Even more effective was the rebounding of Glenbard North's Jerry Abushanab and his accurate outlet passes for quick transition buckets.
"The key to the game was definitely defense. I thought we did a really nice job on them and kept it up the whole game," Glenbard North coach Joe Larson said. "Consistent defensive effort kept us in the ballgame. We were doing a good job of finishing off defensive possessions and getting rebounds and then we were looking up the floor."
"That's part of basketball where you are not going to have a good shooting night. There were a lot of things that we didn't do well with that," said Batavia coach Jim Nazos. "I thought they were first with offensive boards and some loose balls. We hung our heads too much when things weren't going our way. I think we just have some learning to do."
Three of Glenbard North's staring five scored in double figures.
Batavia scored the first basket of the game on a Devin Cheaney turnaround jumper. The Bulldogs did not sink another basket until a bucket by Ethan Ivan (10 points) with 3:26 left in the period.
Glenbard North (3-4, 1-1) led 15-7 after the first quarter.
Batavia's shooting woes continued into the second quarter when they again where held to single digits and trailed 27-16 at the half.
The Bulldogs shot 5 for 22 in the first half.
Batavia (3-2, 0-2) finally found its mark in the second half. The Bulldogs sank the first two baskets of the third quarter, pulling within 27-21 at the 6:31 mark of the quarter.
Glenbard North responded with a short run if its own scoring 9 points to the Bulldogs' 2 to widen the lead back to 36-23.
Momentum returned to the Bulldogs, pulling within five points in the closing minutes of the quarter on back-to-back treys by Jayden Johnson. With 1:29 left in the period, Batavia trailed 38-33.
A 3-pointer by Ivan from the top of the key late in the frame made it a 4-point spread, 40-36. Johnson's shot at the buzzer to make a one-basket game rimmed out. The senior led all scorers with 14 points.
Glenbard North pulled away in the fourth quarter, maintaining a 10-point lead through most of the period.
Rory Hill and Matt Murray led the Panthers' attack with 12 points each. Abushanab tallied 10 points and pulled down 8 rebounds.