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Glenbard East legs out win over Elk Grove

At the end of a long 24 hours, Glenbard East's boys basketball team somehow found the will - and the legs - to give one last burst of energy.

It proved to be the difference on Saturday.

The Rams held Elk Grove scoreless for the final 1:51 of their nonconference game in Lombard, pulling away to a 57-51 victory over the Grenadiers.

Glenbard East (6-2), winner of five straight, trailed 51-50 after a pair of Tyree Howard free throws for Elk Grove (5-4). The Rams' Ryan Lumpkin responded with a go-ahead 3-pointer that put his team ahead to stay.

Two turnovers and a missed 3-pointer were costly in the final minute for the Grenadiers, and they helped Glenbard East hold on for its second win in as many days.

On Friday Glenbard East rallied from 23 points down to beat South Elgin 75-73 in overtime. Digging deep into their bench on Saturday, the Rams had just enough left in the tank to sweep the weekend.

"That's having seniors," said Rams guard Jack Grigat. "We have confidence when we get in that fourth quarter that we're going to execute and run our stuff and get that victory. Our bench comes in and plays as well as we do, and that helps a lot."

With both teams playing Friday - Elk Grove beat Buffalo Grove - the action ran ragged for much of the game. There were 36 combined turnovers, including 16 in the third quarter.

There were also 11 lead changes and seven ties, although Glenbard East led for most of the fourth quarter. Grigat, who hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points, made all four of his free-throw attempts in the final 30 seconds to seal the outcome.

"The whole game, their quickness had us off balance offensively," said Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman. "It's a miracle we had the lead that late. We just had too many mistakes in a close game."

Michael Finley led all scorers with 16 points for Glenbard East. Joe Gatziolis paced Elk Grove with 14 points while Bradley Hubly and Fulton Wingba each scored 12 points.

"We told our guys we had to gut it out," said Glenbard East coach Scott Miller. "These are senior guys and we're winning the ones that we might have lost a couple years ago. I'm proud of them."

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