Glenbard East gives Wheaton North a hard time
Nothing went right for Wheaton North at home Friday in its second boys basketball encounter with Glenbard East.
The Rams scored the first 8 points, never trailing in the process and leveled the Falcons with a 17-point unanswered burst bridging the two middle quarters in authoring a 69-34 triumph.
Backcourt mates Mike Kjeldsen and Jaron Hall led the attack with 15 and 14 points, respectively, for Glenbard East (14-6), which stayed in a first-place tie with West Aurora at 9-1 in the DuPage Valley Conference.
“We shared the basketball tonight,” Glenbard East coach Scott Miller said. “I thought (defensively) we forced them to play faster than they wanted to.”
Glenbard East nearly trebled the Falcons’ score in the opening quarter with a 20-7 start, and it only became worse for Wheaton North (11-11, 3-7) as halftime neared.
The Rams’ eighth man, senior Mike Hansen, scored all 6 of his points on back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute of the second quarter.
Glenbard East entered the intermission with a 38-19 cushion.
“(The first 3-pointer, which banked in almost straight on) felt really good,” Hansen said. “I called ‘bank.’ Sometimes you need a little help from the backboard. We had a renewed energy that we haven’t had all season.”
Limiting the Falcons to 5 third-quarter points in Wheaton, Glenbard East then opened the third quarter with the first 11 points to conclude the 17-0 run Hanson began late in the second quarter.
Starting center Brandon Havenga did not score, but one play in the third typified the Rams’ dominance.
Wheaton North post Jake Heggeland seemed to have a sure field goal, only to have the Rams’ senior meet him at the rim with a perfectly timed block.
Marvin Grant-Clark was the third Glenbard East player in double figures with 10 points.
Miller substituted liberally in the fourth quarter as nine players scored in all for the Rams.
For Wheaton North, though, coach Dave Brackman was out of patience and nearly out of timeouts by the time the fourth quarter started.
“Every aspect of the game, they just dominated us,” Brackmann said. “We came out timid. You can’t do that against a team like that. We played with a lack of confidence. (Glenbard East) feasted on that lack of confidence.”
Jaylen Howze led the Falcons with 10 points, while Matt Biegalski added 9.
Tahron Harvey had back-to-back conventional field goals as part of his 9-point evening during the Rams’ 17-0 run that pushed their lead to 49-19.
Biegalski finally ended it with a free throw with 3:43 to play in the third.
“We had a lot of energy out there tonight,” Miller said.