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Barrington's back on top in MSL West

Even after a vintage performance like Friday night's 67-48 homecourt win over Hoffman Estates, Barrington thinks it can play better.

The Broncos badly out-rebounded the Hawks, nailed their open looks, forced Hoffman into 18 turnovers and kept their composure when the Hawks made a run at them. When they needed it, their defense carried them through.

The Barrington victory, combined with a loss by Fremd, puts the Broncos back in front by themselves in the Mid-Suburban West boys basketball race. Palatine and Fremd are both 1 game back with two divisional games remaining.

Count Barrington coach Bryan Tucker as reasonably pleased after the Broncos' strategy against Hoffman Estates was effective.

"Absolutely," he said, after guards Matt McAndrew, Ben Weber and Jake Orr pursued Hawks scoring machine Jorden Thornton all over the gym, which allowed 6-foot-9 junior Rapolas Ivanauskas (21 points) to patrol the inside and protect the basket.

It worked. Hoffman shot just 15-for-36 from the field.

"Especially early," as Barrington quickly built a lead, Tucker noted. "They were one and done. That was critical."

"(Thornton) is a tough matchup," he continued. "We felt we had three or four options to run at him and wear him down."

Thornton had 18 points, but worked hard for his looks. Lamont McIntosh picked him up with 14 points, mostly on an uncanny 4-of-4 shooting effort on 3-pointers as Hoffman rallied within 43-32 in the third quarter after being virtually doubled up by Barrington (17-6, 6-2).

"I liked the way the kids responded to that," Tucker said.

The response included Will Reinhard's hoop on a backdoor cut with a feed from McAndrews to close the third quarter. Then it was the Ivanauskas show, which included the big junior scoring inside, then on a jumper, then 3 free throws, a baby hook and a drive to put the Broncos back up more comfortably at 62-40 in the fourth.

Ivanauskas continues to work hard on improving his game.

"Definitely on defense. I have to be a bigger threat," he said. "I have to rotate faster in help defense."

But as a team, he felt focusing on Thornton was key.

"He had a great game against us last time," Ivanauskas said of Thornton, who lit up the Broncos for 32 points in December. "He's a great player."

Indeed he is, and Hoffman Estates coach Luke Yanule thought McIntosh helped take the pressure off him.

"Barrington is so tough and talented," Yanule said. "We know teams want to take JT (Thornton) away, and we've been better at handling it. We'll be back."

For Barrington the challenge is to be more consistent.

"I feel like we have to be better focused for 32 minutes," Tucker. "There's a lot of basketball left to play."

Ivanauskas knows that - and knows what Barrington has to do.

"Just play together, stopping the other team's best players, which we've been doing," he said.

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