Glenbard South finishes

It's not the first time Glenbard South's boys basketball team surged to a double-digit first-half lead.

It's not even the first time in the last week.

That experience helped the Raiders finish what they started - something they weren't able to do just a few days earlier.

Leading wire-to-wire, Glenbard South cruised to Tuesday's 76-45 Metro Suburban West win over IC Catholic Prep in Elmhurst.

The Raiders (4-9, 2-1) opened a 25-8 lead after a quarter and never looked back. It was a much different story than Saturday's loss to Marmion when Glenbard South led by as many as 16 points before falling on a late 3-pointer.

"I would say that's probably our most complete performance, just because we were able to finish," said Raiders coach Wade Hardtke. "We've played some solid games against Downers North, Oak Forest. We've had some good ballgames. We just weren't able to finish."

Shorthanded IC Catholic Prep (8-5, 1-3) struggled mightily against the Raiders' full-court pressure defense. A flurry of turnovers hit the Knights throughout the game, and Glenbard South converted with points more often than not.

Seven different players scored for the Raiders in a first quarter highlighted by 3-pointers by Povilas Riauba, Jonny Gutierrez and Tyler Scott, who led a balanced effort with 13 points.

The Knights committed 29 turnovers with at least six in each quarter. This came after they had 19 turnovers in last Tuesday's loss to St. Edward in the ICCP/Westmont tournament title game.

"We struggled with their pressure, and we haven't really struggled much with pressure this year," said Knights coach T.J. Tyrrell. "They forced quite a bit of turnovers. We got in a big hole and we couldn't get ourselves out of it."

Eleven players scored in a balanced effort for the Raiders. Billy Bair had 10 points while Charlie Bair and Riauba scored 9 apiece and Gutierrez and Kyle Carli each scored 8 points.

Rhashaun Epting led IC Catholic Prep by scoring 10 of his 13 points in the second quarter while trying to keep the Knights close. Will Lyles scored 11 points and Jordan Rowell added 10 points before fouling out.

"Up to this point we've been hitting those lulls where all of a sudden we'd play not to lose instead of play to win," Hardtke said. "I thought tonight we did a nice job of pushing through that."

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