Glenbard South can’t stop Jackson, R-B

Take away Ryan Jackson and Glenbard South defeats Riverside-Brookfield in a rout.

But nobody was going to take away Jackson on Friday night.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound senior guard scored 40 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, dished 5 assists and grabbed 3 steals in a 91-71 Bulldogs victory against Glenbard South.

Jackson finished 14 of 25 from the field and hit seven 3-point shots, including one from just beyond midcourt that beat the halftime buzzer.

“That kind of took the wind out of our sails,” Raiders coach Wade Hardtke said.

The Bulldogs were 14 of 31 from 3-point range on the night.

“I don’t know what they shot, but they shot the ball awfully well,” Hardtke said. “That’s a good ballclub. I didn’t think there was any way they could shoot the ball as well as they did in the first half, and they came out and shot the ball equally as well in the second half.”

Riverside-Brookfield jumped on the Raiders early and took a 50-38 lead into the halftime locker room. After three quarters it was 74-57.

“We were in way too much of a hurry,” Hardtke said. “We shot the ball way too early in our possession, especially in a game like tonight. Whether it was turning the ball over early or shooting the ball too early, it just gives a team like that more opportunities to go down and score. We could never really settle in.”

Jackson came out of the game with 2:53 to play having missed his only 3 shots of the fourth quarter.

“I knew that they were going to try to double-team me a lot, so I figured I’d pick my spots to look to score,” said Jackson, whose scoring total tied a personal best. “Whenever they came to double-team me I was able to find my teammates.”

The victory clinched a share of the Metro Suburban Conference championship for Riverside-Brookfield (17-4, 9-0), its 10th straight league title.

Joe Harks led Glenbard South (9-12, 6-3) with 19 points, and Wes Sanders and Jon Berrospi added 10 apiece.