advertisement

Glenbard South wins tight game at Aurora Central

Not much separated Metro Suburban Conference foes Glenbard South and Aurora Central Catholic all night long Friday in Aurora.

The Raiders were out in front most of the game but never led by more than 9 points. The Chargers were within 5 points at the end of every quarter and even took a 1-point lead in the third quarter.

But there was one big difference in the game: Glenbard South center Billy Bair. Bair scored a game-high 22 points, including two huge free throws with 15 seconds left in the game that gave the Raiders a 4-point lead and they held on to win 46-44.

"Billy stepped up and played big for us," said Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke. "Those free throws were huge, a 4-point lead makes all the difference in the world at that point."

Glenbard South (9-10, 4-2) started quickly, opening the game with a 6-0 run, doing most of its damage inside with Bair and Kyle Carli.

Aurora Central Catholic (9-10, 3-4) started the night cold from the floor and never really did find its touch from the outside. But the Chargers received early contributions from Evan Schuetz, who scored a team-high 14 points in the game, and Nick Faltz with 10 points to stay close as both teams battled on the defensive end and points were hard to come by all night.

"It was so hard to score and we had a bad shooting night," said ACC coach Nate Drye. "They are a good defensive team but we got some looks and you have to knock those looks down when you get them against a good team because we're not going to get a bunch of second-chance points. And they don't turn it over, they are good with the ball."

The Chargers were able to lock down the Raiders for the most part as well with the exception go Bair. When ACC took the lead 23-22 in the third quarter, Bair answered with two baskets and a pair of free throws to regain the lead for Glenbard South.

Aurora Central had one last run as the Chargers trailed 43-35 with 1:16 remaining in the game. Faltz hit a 3-pointer and Jake Bush came up with a steal which led to a bucket by Brett Czerak to pull within 43-40 with 42 seconds still to play.

Carli split a pair of free throws for the Raiders and when ACC center Mario May answered with a layup, it was 44-42 with 20 seconds to play.

Bair was fouled and calmly knocked down both foul shots to seal the victory.

"They had a good student section going today so I tried to not think about them and to just think about making the shots," said Bair.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.