Glenbard South wins fourth straight game

Not too long ago boys basketball wins were hard to come by and finishing off teams sometimes proved elusive. But these days things are looking up for Glenbard South.

The Raiders (7-10) started fast Tuesday night in a nonconference game against visiting West Chicago and, aside from a minor hiccup in the third quarter, never looked back while pulling away to a 64-36 win. After jumping out to an 18-4 lead following a layup from Johnny LaPonte, the home team led by 17 at the half on its way to a fourth straight triumph.

"I'm pleased that we were able to close out the game tonight, but even in the locker room we talked about another hurdle we've had this season, the third quarter," Raiders coach Wade Hardtke said after the Wildcats had opened the second half with a 16-10 run that whittled the lead down to 11. "And the third quarter again proved to be a little bit of a stumbling block coming out of the half, but we were able to regroup and the main thing is we were able to finish it up."

It was a balanced attack and a big night on the glass that saw to it that Glenbard South would not let West Chicago (5-12) get any closer than 11 in that third quarter, which ended with the lead back up to 51-34. The Raiders, who had three players lead the way with 11 points each and two others score at least 8 points, put an exclamation point on the big win by outscoring the Wildcats 13-2 over the final eight minutes.

"Our guys did a good job attacking the glass tonight," said Glenbard South forward Billy Bair, who had 11 points and 12 rebounds in the game. "Getting offensive rebounds and getting second-chance points… . I thought that was what helped us out a lot."

Another big help was outside shooting, as Kyle Carli knocked down a trio of 3-pointers to tally all 11 of his points in the first half for the hosts, while Jonny Gutierrez, Tyler Scott and Povilas Riauba each recorded 3-pointers in the third quarter to help keep West Chicago at bay.

"Early on we wanted to make sure we established the inside game and then Carli was hot and that certainly makes us tough to defend," Hardtke said. "When you got Billy and Charlie (Bair) working inside and then you got Carli hitting on the outside, we can be pretty tough to defend."

Charlie Bair, a 6-foot-5 center, finished the game with 9 points and 5 rebounds.

For the Wildcats, Tai Bibbs paced the attack with 9 points and Devonte Pascal added 8. Quinn Ricci provided a spark off the bench with 4 blocked shots.

"The overall effort tonight was just not what it needs to be," Wildcats coach Bill Recchia said. "I didn't recognize our team out there on the floor. Please, take nothing away from the effort of Glenbard South. They played hard and they played the way you're supposed to play the game of basketball. We didn't do that tonight."