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Leyden takes tournament title from Willowbrook

One day of resiliency rolled into two for Leyden's boys basketball team.

Saturday night it allowed the Eagles to hoist the biggest hardware at the Glenbard West Holiday Classic.

Capping a comeback from a disappointing pool-play loss four days earlier, Leyden won its second title in three years in Glen Ellyn with a 64-53 victory over West Suburban Gold rival Willowbrook.

Eagles senior guard Marcos Herrera tied a personal-high with 27 points and set a personal high with eight 3-pointers. Five of his 3s came in the first half as Leyden (10-5) built a double-digit lead it maintained for the bulk of the second half.

"We knew we played bad (in Tuesday's loss to Glenbard North), so we knew we had to step it up," said Herrera, who was selected to the all-tournament team. "We had to focus on certain things to get better at. That's what we did and it came out good."

Herrera outdueled Willowbrook sophomore guard and fellow all-tourney pick Alonzo Verge Jr., who scored 12 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter while trying to spark a Warriors (6-6) rally.

Willowbrook, however, couldn't overcome 18-of-72 shooting from the field. Not even forcing 27 Leyden turnovers - including 10 in the fourth quarter - could overcome 25 percent shooting from the field.

"We had every opportunity to win tonight's game," said Willowbrook coach Chris Perkins. "When you shoot 18 for 72, it's hard to win a varsity basketball game with a percentage like that."

Leading 29-15 at the half, Herrera's three third-quarter 3-pointers thwarted every attempt at a Willowbrook comeback. Verge scored twice off turnovers midway through the fourth quarter, and another turnover gave the Warriors a chance to slice the deficit from 8 points, but a charging call gave the ball back to the Eagles.

Leyden responded with a crushing bucket from Adam Braxton Jr., who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. DeAndre Williams added to the Eagles' post punch with 12 points while Kevin Miller scored 9 points for Willowbrook.

"I really was frustrated with the Glenbard North game," said Leyden coach Bill Heisler, whose team lost 54-49 to the Panthers on Tuesday. "Since then I've been really pleased. I liked our energy, and some of the things we did a lot better than we were doing before break."

Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevin_schmit

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