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Barrington finds winning rhythm in West finale

It was time to rap in Barrington on Friday.

With his team leading by just one point headed into the fourth quarter, Rapolas Ivanauskas came up with his best quarter of basketball this season to lead Barrington past Schaumburg 53-43.

Despite being in foul trouble, Ivanauskas stepped up his play on both ends of the court. He scored Barrington's first 15 points in the final period and his defense was also a key as the Broncos pulled away from a 34-33 lead.

"The whole game I was struggling in foul trouble," said Ivanauskas, who scored 17 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. "I wasn't doing well at all. I just realized I just had to take over and play with some anger and just let it all out."

Ivanauskas showed why he is ranked the top junior in Illinois and attracted the University of Virginia to watch him play on this night. He demanded the ball on the offensive end and scored in many different ways. That included a sweet drop move to the basket, a rebounded basket of a missed shot that he converted while falling on his backside along with an exclamation point dunk.

"He had a tough whistle go against him in the first half," Barrington coach Bryan Tucker said. "But I was really, really impressed on how Rap was able to keep his head.

"He got on the court and and did a great job in the second half. There were some things that may not show up to the average fan, but he did some real nice things in the final four minutes."

Barrington (21-6, 9-1) which won the MSL West outright for the first time in 22 years and will play at Hersey on Wednesday in the MSL title game, needed that type of play.

The Broncos were without Ethan Small, who broke his foot, and Ben Weber, who had his appendix removed earlier this week. They then lost Will Reinhard to an ankle injury in the second quarter.

Along with Ivanauskas, Barrington got strong play from Scott Bennet, who finished with 11 points, along with Chris Lester, who had 9 points, and Tristen Becker and Jake Orr, who came off the bench to score 6 and 4 points, respectively.

"Will hurt his ankle and Rap got into foul trouble, so I thought I would get things going," said Bennet, who scored 7 of his points in the first quarter. "I tried to push the ball up the court in transition. I am good at getting out on the court."

Schaumburg (10-17, 4-6) got spectacular play from Jason Schoo. The junior, who averages 10 points, was nearly all of the Saxons' offense, at one points, scoring 25 of his team's 31 points.

But Barrington limited Schoo's touches in the final quarter, and Schoo was able to convert just 2 free throws to finish with 27 points.

"He was great," Schaumburg coach Marty Manning said. "We just needed some other guys to follow his lead. But I thought we executed offensively really well."

Manning, who is in is first year as head coach at Schaumburg, also confirmed that he will step down at the end of the season to become the athletic director at Schaumburg.

"I guess my first job will be to find my replacement," Manning said.

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