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Glenbard South's board work helps it advance

Phillips flashed a scary-good pressure defense at times on Saturday, but Glenbard South more than countered that with a dominating effort on the glass and at the free-throw line.

So while the Wildcats made a few runs led by forced turnovers, Glenbard South prevailed 57-51 at the Romeoville holiday tournament after owning a huge advantage in rebounds and foul shots.

Six-foot-5 Charlie Bair had 20 rebounds, while his brother, Billy, led all scorers with 18 points as Glenbard South improved to 7-3 on the year and advanced to Monday's second round against the winner of the Romeoville-Oak Forest contest.

The two Bairs also combined to make 10 of 12 foul shots for a Raiders team that went 23 of 27 from the line, compared to Phillips, which made just 2 of 4 free throws in the game.

“We got to the line a lot and we were able to make them,” said Billy Bair, who had 10 points through two quarters as his team built a 26-19 lead with a strong second quarter. “We crashed the boards pretty hard and we got a lot of offensive rebounds that helped us a lot.”

Glenbard South led 10-7 late in the first quarter following a pair of free throws by Johnny LaPonte, who finished the night with 16 points and 3 steals. But the Wildcats closed the quarter with an 8-0 run sparked by a trio of turnovers.

The Raiders rebounded, however, with a 16-4 scoring advantage in the second quarter to lead by 7 at the half. The lead grew to 41-30 after three quarters before Phillips' pressure defense made things a little more interesting late before Glenbard South's free throws and rebounds proved too much for the Chicago school to overcome.

“One of the main things we need to do every game is hit the boards, get rebounds and go back up with it.

We're bigger than most teams we face,” said Charlie Blair, who had 7 of his 20 rebounds on the offensive end. “We kind of got scared once they started to press us (late in the first quarter). But then we saw what they do and we were able to set up our press break and break them.”

Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke praised Phillips' speed and trapping defense but was also quite impressed with what his team did on the glass and at the free-throw line.

“That's a very athletic team and they were able to cause enough trouble for us where we were turning the ball over,” he said. “It seemed like every time we stretched it they were able to turn it up a notch and they were able to close it again right away.”

But then the rebounding and free-throw shot margins greatly favoring the Raiders made the difference.

“Fortunately, I think the difference tonight was rebounding and shooting the ball well from the free-throw line,” Hardtke said. “Getting there was the first thing and the being able to convert … I think we missed a handful at best.”

Phillips had three players score in double figures with Everett Patton's 13 leading the way. But the Wildcats were outrebounded 35-17 and dropped to 3-6 on the year.

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