Glenbard South defeats Marmion in its home opener
Marmion had its good moments Tuesday night at Glenbard South and its bad moments. It was the same for the Raiders.
Glenbard South had a few more good moments to win its boys basketball home opener 62-52 in Glen Ellyn.
"Marmion is a big physical team and that had a lot to do with our struggles," said Raiders coach Wade Hardtke, whose team stands at 3-2. "We have plenty of weapons on the offensive side. The keys are on the defensive side. Valuing possessions is crucial and that goes back to shot selection and not turning the ball over, and that wasn't the best tonight."
Both teams were well into double-digit turnovers for the game, but Glenbard South kept its grip on the ball enough and shot well enough to crank out a 20-point fourth quarter that put the game on ice.
A basket by Tim Marks put the Raiders up 48-39 with 6:28 remaining in the game. The Cadets (2-3) were far from finished as two free throws by Jonathan Young and a 3-pointer from Joshua Ruddy pulled Marmion to within 48-44, and Hardtke called a timeout with 4:39 remaining. Ruddy led his team with 10 points.
After the timeout Billy Bair hit net for 2 points, then fed Kyle Carli as he sprinted through the lane for another bucket. Marks made it another unanswered basket to put Glenbard South up 54-44 with 3:13 left in the game. And when the 12-1 run was over, the Raiders were up 60-45 with just over two minutes to play.
Povilas Riauba led the victors with 16 points, Marks had 15 and Bair had 14. Johnny LaPonte had a game-high 13 rebounds.
"We were finally about to control on their offensive end. We got plenty of weapons on our offensive side," Hardtke said.
The Cadets controlled the opening minutes of the first quarter, leading 5-0 before Riauba scored the Raiders' first basket of the game, a 3-pointer, just less than three minutes into the contest.
The teams were deadlocked at 17 after the first eight minutes and Glenbard South led 28-25 at halftime. After Marmion coach Joe Currie called a timeout with 3:45 remaining in the third quarter with the Raiders up 36-30.Glenbard South led 42-36 going into the final period.
Currie said movement was key to when Marmion played well.
"When we stand around, we're not good offensively. When we move, we screen. We cut off their passing lanes and that's when we find guys open. It allows teams to be aggressive," he said. "We have to finish down low. We were not finishing the easy baskets."