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Barrington has winning effort against Cary-Grove

Barrington forward Mark Bennett called it “a lot of energy.” Broncos Coach Bryan Tucker said his varsity boys basketball team “played aggressively.”

Opposing head coach Ralph Schuetzle of Cary-Grove called Barrington “a well-coached team” with a point guard (Brad Zaumseil) “who did whatever he wanted” and teammates who “can all shoot it.”

Put it together and it spelled a 62-40 win for Barrington on Friday in the semifinals of its pool of second-place finishers from the four round-robin groups at the Jacobs Holiday Classic in Algonquin. Barrington meets Lake Zurich today at 4:30 p.m. for the pool title and an overall fifth-place finish in the tournament.

If they shoot like they did Thursday (27-of-49), rebound like they did Thursday (29-16 advantage) and especially play defense like they did Friday (Cary-Grove shot just 14-for-36), the Broncos stand to walk away with their second group-winning trophy in three years and an 11-4 record into the resumption of Mid-Suburban League play.

To what do they attribute this steady string of strong play, even without standout center John Schneider, still nursing a broken finger?

“Everyone’s stepped up,” said Bennett, who at 6-foot-5 can softly drop a perimeter jumper or mix it up with the rest of the trees around the basket. He had 9 points Thursday against Cary-Grove in what was just the balanced effort he said the team needs to be successful.

“We played as a team,” he said. “Defensive pressure turns defense into offense.”

In the decisive second quarter, which ended 32-11 for Barrington at halftime, the Broncos forced multiple turnovers and converted them into transition buckets for hot-shooting point guard Zaumseil (17 points, 10 in the quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers). Zaumseil also fed Bennett for a hoop in transition and then did the same favor for forward Lee Conforti (6 points).

By the time Barrington finished scoring 14 points in a row, it was 32-10 and virtually over. Cary-Grove had but 5 first-half field goals and was 0-for-6 from 3-point range, unable to get a clean look, an offensive rebound or a transition basket of its own.

Barrington got solid play from everyone, including all of those 6-foot-2 interchangeable parts named Ryan Carroll (6 points), Jackson Wegner (4), Vinnie Tuzil (5), Robbie Vollman (2) and ever-improving sophomore Austin Madrzyk.

Cary-Grove, primarily a zone team, was “forced to play man-to-man” against the Broncos, according to Schuetzle, a defense in which the Trojans clearly weren’t comfortable. They did get some production late from Jake Bianchi (15 points), Zach Taylor, Casey Snodgrass and Matt Motzel, but they never did find a combination that clicked against Barrington.

Still, Schuetzle was proud of his kids’ work this week in this 16-team tournament, getting into the second-place finishers’ pool.

“They earned it,” he said. “They gave a good effort,” and he hopes they’ll have one more left today at noon against Marian Central.

Barrington, meanwhile, is looking forward to another crisp effort.

“We were very happy with our practice (Wednesday),” said Tucker. “We still have a lot of work to do.”

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