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Davis drives Glenbard West to OT win

In case you were wondering, Glenbard West's Corey Davis is a drive-first kind of guard. That ability to take it to the hoop effectively was front and center in Friday's West Suburban Conference Silver showdown against Lyons Township.

Davis scored on a couple of sweet spin moves to the hoop and came up with a dipsy-do shot off a rebound in the waning moments of regulation to help the Hilltoppers push the game into overtime. In the extra session he got the job done on the free-throw line with 4 shots. Glenbard West also received a clutch 3-pointer from Will Reedy to pull out a 53-51 victory over the host Lions in La Grange.

“We bounced back excellent,” said Davis, who led all scorers with 19 points. “We were down 10 points at the end of the third. All season long we have been one or two possessions away from every team in conference. Tonight to be on the other side of the ball and get a win was good.”

Kalen Starkey also scored 13 points for the Hilltoppers (9-10, 2-5 WSC Silver) and his play early on helped the team open the game with 8 unanswered points.

Both teams took turns with big runs. After a tip-in by Davis gave Glenbard West a 20-12 lead late in the second quarter, LT (12-7, 4-3) then went on a 17-0 run into the third quarter to take a 29-20 advantage. Lions sharpshooting guard Jim Cullen poured in 10 points during that stretch, including a rare 4-point play.

The Hilltoppers trailed 36-26 heading into the final quarter and then used a 10-0 spurt to deadlock the game capped by a 3-pointer from Reedy. The senior's 3 in the early part of overtime broke the ice.

“Scoring that first basket in overtime is so important, from a points standpoint but also psychologically,” said Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder. “I don't know the statistic but I bet the team that scores first in overtime wins 75 percent of the time. Will stepped up and knocked down a shot. That was really big for us.”

The cool, calm demeanor by Davis at the line was also clutch. He missed two free throws in overtime but then made his next four.

“We spend so much time on free throws in practice,” Davis said. “It was just fatigue, the fans. The crowd was crazy. I just had to settle down. Coach said don't think, just shoot the ball.”

“He leads us in so many different ways,” Hoder said of Davis. “We are going to live or die with him. If he misses them, we are going to go home and work on free throws and take our lumps. We will live or die with him whatever the result is.”

The Lions were paced by 17 points from Cullen and 13 points from Jaquan Phipps.

“Glenbard played really well and took advantage of our defensive breakdowns,” said Lyons coach Tom Sloan. “No. 12 (Reedy) hit two 3s that were big and they made plays when they needed to. We didn't make enough plays.”

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