Glenbard East holds off South Elgin

The Glenbard East boys basketball team's first game in the Upstate Eight Conference since 1965 went down to the wire.

The Rams built as large as a 14-point lead in the second half and led 53-41 early in the fourth, and they withstood a rally from host South Elgin to preserve a 61-57 UEC Valley Division win on Friday night.

"I was really happy with the energy level from my guys from beginning to end," said Rams' coach Scott Miller. "Anytime you can go on the road and beat a good team, you've got to feel good with that."

Junior Jack Grigat (6 points) gave the Rams (3-2, 1-0) the 53-41 lead to start the final period before the Storm (2-3, 0-1) started its comeback. South Elgin forced 6 turnovers and Quintin McClundon grabbed 5 of his game-high 7 rebounds as the Storm eventually pulled to within 59-57 after sophomore Logan Atkins (13 points) hit a layup with 1.6 seconds left to play.

The Storm was without leading scorer junior Matt Smith, who left the game after a rough fall and after scoring 5 points midway through the first quarter. Storm coach Matt Petersen said he did not know the extent of the injury.

South Elgin was also without 6-foot-11 junior Tyler Hankins who Petersen said could be out for a month after tearing three ligaments in his right ankle in the third place tournament game last week at Fenton.

"Everybody had to step up a level after (Smith) went down," Petersen said. "They had to play team basketball, and they did down the stretch."

There were 4 ties in the first quarter, and senior Adam Eboli (10 points) came off the bench and hit his first of two 3-pointers on the night at the buzzer to give the Rams the lead for good at 18-15.

Junior Michael Finley had a game-high 20 points and added 6 rebounds. He scored 14 points, including a pair of treys, in the first half allowing the Rams to take a 34-24 lead at halftime.

"My team came out ready," Finley said. "We had great energy and played great team defense. That's what coach always stresses, and that helped us set the tone."

Storm junior Damien Young had 12 points, and junior Justin Howard hit three from behind the arc and finished with 11 points. Freshman Anthony Lynch had 7 points.

Along with the Storm's McClundon, Rams senior Bryce Robers had 7 rebounds to go along with 12 points. Junior point guard Terrance Lakes added 6 points, and Glenbard East edged South Elgin 27-26 on the boards.