Glenbard South hangs tough in loss
In a game where scoring was at a premium, especially in the second half, North Lawndale outlasted Glenbard South 40-33 Tuesday night in a Class 3A regional semifinal at Wheaton Academy.
North Lawndale scored a mere 14 points in the second half but parlayed a strong finish to the first half into a big enough lead that would preserve the victory for the Phoenix.
North Lawndale came out with a suffocating press that gave Glenbard South (11-15) fits in the opening quarter, as the Phoenix jumped out to 10-7 lead after the first quarter.
“We knew they were going to come at us in the beginning, and I think there was a little shock value,” Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke said. “We tried to weather the storm and set the tone ourselves, and we did set the tone on the glass and boxing out and it got them in foul trouble.”
The Raiders adjusted to the press and scrapped their way to a 1-point deficit with just more than five minutes left in the first half behind junior forward Dusko Despot. Despot poured in 10 first-half points to keep the Raiders close. However, Glenbard South was whistled for a common foul and a technical foul, and after hitting three free throws, senior guard Jocques Jones hit a 3-pointer to give North Lawndale six points in roughly 10 seconds, which propelled the Phoenix to a 9-2 run to finish the half with a 26-18 halftime lead.
“We talked about being poised because we knew they would come with a lot of pressure and traps,” Despot said. “We haven’t seen much pressure like that in our conference.”
The Phoenix came out in the second half and started to hold the ball at midcourt until the Raiders were forced to come out and apply pressure, trying to lull the Raiders to sleep. Despot and the Raiders had owned the paint so North Lawndale was trying to keep the ball out of the hands of Glenbard South.
“The key for us was to apply a lot of pressure and protect the ball,” North Lawndale coach Lewis Thorpe said. “We wanted to double down on (Despot) as much as possible. I’ve only seen this team once and I didn’t know he was that good; he was too much for us and that was another reason for holding the ball.”
The dragged-out possessions for North Lawndale only led to 5 third-quarter points but the held a 31-25 lead after three quarters.
The Raiders would not go down without a fight; they trailed by only 3 with a minute to play. However, a pair of missed 3-pointers would not allow Glenbard South to come all the way back as the Phoenix hit their free throws down the stretch to pull out the victory.
“We wanted to let them hold the ball a little bit to try and shorten the game and use that to our advantage,” Hardtke said. “We didn’t want to get into a track meet with them.”
All the long, drawn-put possessions were just enough to keep the Raiders at bay every time it seemed Glenbard South might take the lead.
“There might have been more standing around than playing in this game, but it was close and they got the best of us,” Despot said.