Awalt, Bartlett dump Barrington

Brett Awalt is a little atypical as a basketball player.

The senior forward for the Bartlett boys basketball team loves those pressure situations late when he's on the free throw line.

Tuesday was a case in point. Awalt made 5 of 6 freebies in the final 42.7 seconds to propel Bartlett to a 63-51 nonconference victory over Barrington.

"I just react better under pressure, because I don't have to think about it as much," Awalt said. "I just have to think about the outcome. I feel good that I could come back and help the team."

Interestingly, it was the long-distance shot early that gave Awalt the opportunity to salt the game away late. Bartlett hit 11 3-pointers Tuesday, and in fact 7 of the Hawks' 10 first-half field goals were from beyond the arc, with 5 hit by senior forward Robby Jimenez.

Bartlett, now 13-9, shot 45.8 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (11-for-24) and 44 percent overall (19-for-43).

"We definitely felt the rhythm," Hawks coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "When you're facing a team like Barrington with the size they have inside, our game structured against them is, it's better to be on the perimeter, making shots, making the extra pass, driving and dump offs."

The Hawks owned a slim 55-51 lead with 1:06 left, when senior forward Jason Hasenberg launched a long inbounds pass that Jimenez caught on the fly, juked Barrington defender Brett Budzak, and laid the ball in. Budzak committed his fifth foul on the play, and Jimenez sank the free throw to increase the lead to 58-51.

The Broncos would come up empty in each possession from that point on, and in turn kept fouling Awalt, who simply sank one free throw after another. He made a pair at 42.7 seconds, another pair with 16 seconds, and then went 1-for-2 with 6 seconds left to set the final score.

Barrington wasn't able to capitalize on a strong effort by 6-foot-6 senior center Will Reinhard, who finished with 12 points, though Bartlett's defense held him to just 3 in the second half. He even added a 3-pointer in the first quarter for the first points of the game.

But Barrington was only able to shoot 4-for-14 from the field in the fourth quarter, with but 1 basket in the final 3:32 of the game - meaning Bartlett ended the contest with an 11-2 run.

"We kind of took some ill-advised shots, we weren't patient enough," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker of that fourth quarter. "We've just got to get smarter and better and longer possessions. I feel like we're really impatient."