Jacobs dumps Barrington on Mack's 3 at buzzer
Welcome back, Kenton Mack.
Playing only his second game of the season on Saturday following a minor procedure to fix the meniscus in his right knee, the Northern Michigan-bound senior drained a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift the Golden Eagles to a 51-48 nonconference victory over visiting Barrington.
Jacobs (5-3) inbounded from the side to guard Chrishawn Orange with five seconds left. He was supposed to come off a high screen from 6-foot-8 sophomore Cameron Krutwig, according to coach Jimmy Roberts.
However, Barrington (6-3) switched to a 2-3 zone after a timeout. Orange tried to drive from the right wing, but he was met by senior guards Matt McAndrews and Scott Bennett. Instead, he dumped the ball off to Mack, who was peeling off the play in the opposite direction.
"When we changed defenses on them, they got a little confused," Barrington coach Bryan Tucker said. "Then (Mack) just made a play."
"They did a good job going zone on us," Orange said. "I just made the correct play and (Mack) made a good shot."
Mack, who played only 12 minutes in his season debut on Tuesday, joked he needed the shot to go in since his needle was nearly on empty.
"I was too tired to play overtime," the smiling guard said. "You know, it's my second game back. I've been sitting on my butt for like a month and I've had a week of practice. I was gassed."
It was the only 3-pointer of the second half for Jacobs, which drained 6 of them in the first half. The Golden Eagles shot 20 of 42 from the field (48 percent) and committed only 7 turnovers compared to Barrington's 13.
"I'm just proud of our team. We grinded it out," Mack said. "We're a scrappy team. We're not a team that plays in the seventies and eighties. That's the kind of game we want to play and we found a way to beat a really good basketball team."
Barrington 6-6 forward Chris Lester finished with 17 points and 6 rebounds and junior guard Ben Weber scored 16 points. Weber drove the lane for a game-tying shot off glass with 52 seconds left.
The Golden Eagles then held the ball for a final shot, but Orange was fouled with 5 seconds remaining, setting the stage for the thrilling final sequence.
Tucker had no problem with the way his team defended the game-winning shot.
"We basically said we were really happy with the defense on that," he said. "We've got to worry about why we were in a position that they can make a lucky shot to beat us. That's what we have to tighten up."
The Broncos took their last lead of the game at 46-44 with 4:44 to play when Weber canned a 3-pointer, but Krutwig (8 points) answered with consecutive impressive inside buckets to put Jacobs ahead 48-46.
Barrington's Rapolas Ivanauskas, a 6-9 junior forward, was limited by foul trouble throughout the game. He finished with 6 points and 2 rebounds one night after he scored 31 in a win over Palatine.
Orange scored a team-best 15 points for Jacobs, while fellow starters Mack, Krutwig, guard Cory Boeckh and forward Matt Bindi each scored 8 points for Jacobs.