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Glenbard East loosens up, gets victory

Glenbard East can certainly grind out a victory.

The Rams rebounded from a 56-50 loss to Bartlett on Friday night with a win over 52-49 win over Plainfield East at the fourth annual When Sides Collide Shootout on Saturday in Lombard.

After being outscored 14-5 in the third quarter and allowing the Bengals to come back and tie the game 37-37 - all with four players stuck with four fouls apiece - Glenbard East held strong with tough rebounding and team defense to take the victory.

"I thought in the third quarter we kind of played a little bit not to lose," said Rams coach Scott Miller. "We told them there was nothing to lose. I think that kind of loosened them up a little bit to where they started attacking the basket again. Made enough free throws to squeak it out. Just pleased overall in with the effort."

Sophomore forward Michael Finley helped get the Rams off to a good start in the first half, mainly by outscoring Plainfield East 15-9 in the opening quarter.

Finley and Patrick Peterkin - who came off the bench - combined for 20 of Glenbard East's 32 first-half points, which was enough to outduel Bengals senior guard Aaron Jordan, who had 14 of his game-high 29 points in the first half.

"(I kept) attacking the basket," Finley said of his team-high 17 points. "They kept leaving pressure, then they tried to come up on me and I'd just pass them to finish."

The third quarter gave the Bengals a lot of momentum. Glenbard East shot just 2 of 13 from the field and 1 of 4 from the free-throw line, allowing Plainfield East to tie the game 37-37 going into the fourth quarter.

The Rams kept their composure in a big way in the fourth quarter.

With Terrance Lakes, Peterkin, Bryce Roberts and Zach Walsh all in serious foul trouble, Glenbard East managed to keep everyone from fouling out while outscoring the Bengals 15-12.

Glenbard East also smothered Jordan at the end of the game when he went for the tying 3-point basket with two seconds left.

"I thought because of that we had to maybe play more zone than we had planned, but the zone seemed to be effective and that was good," Miller said. "I think that the foul trouble (showed) the benefit of our bench. We can go nine deep and give us vital minutes, which is good."

Glenbard East also kept its advantage from the free-throw line, going 7 of 11 in the fourth quarter while Plainfield East went just 0 of 2.

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