Weber's artful finish lifts Barrington past Hoffman Estates
Left-handed people have always held that they are creative people. Michelangelo and LeRoy Nieman were lefties, to name a couple.
Friday night at Hoffman Estates, Barrington's Ben Weber took a little time to find his left-handed stroke - but when he did, it brought the house down in the Broncos' 58-51 Mid-Suburban West win over the Hawks.
Weber was scoreless going into the fourth quarter but masterful the rest of the way as he scored 15 of his team's 20 points in the period.
An assist from Weber to Ethan Small with 5:30 left in the game woke up the senior.
"I always like to get my teammates involved," said Weber. "It can get me going."
At the time Barrington (12-12, 2-6) pulled to within 39-35.
The Hawks countered with the last of their runs, taking a 44-38 lead with 3:18 left in the game on a basket Brandon Hall.
Hall led Hoffman Estates (9-14, 2-6) with 18 points and 8 rebounds. Jorden Thornton also played a stellar game, finishing with 16 points.
Weber hit the first of his four 3s with 3:02 left in the game as Barrington trailed 44-41.
A turnover, caused by Weber led to his second 3 from the same left corner to tie the game at 44.
Weber hit his third 3 with 1:42 left for a 47-44 lead, and the Broncos didn't trail again.
Thornton hit 2 free throws before Weber hit his final 3 for a 50-46 lead.
With the Broncos leading 52-48, Thornton hit a 3 to pull to the Hawks within 52-51 with :29 left.
After that, the Hawks were forced to foul, and Barrington made 6 of 8 free throws to seal the win.
Sophomore Anthony Span scored 11 points, with 7 of them in the fourth quarter thanks to a 5-for-5 effort at the free throw line.
"When I hit the first 3, I really felt it," said Weber. "Then came the next 3. I think that got the defense going. This was such a big win for us. We're the ones that have been getting knocked out late. It felt good to get one like this. One thing we do as a team, we hang our hat on our toughness."
Will Reinhard led Barrington with 19 points and 9 rebounds and kept the Broncos in the game.
"We received some great senior leadership in Ben and Will tonight," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. "Will carried us for the first three quarters and then Ben stepped up in the fourth quarter with his 15 points. We really hope to build on this one."
"Ben's shots was just what we needed to get our defense rolling," said Reinhard. "I think we did a good job denying them second-chance points and we got our share of 50-50 balls. After the way we lost to Fremd last week we weren't going to let that happen."
For the Hawks, it was a case of seeing another lead slip away late.
"Weber just got hot on us," said Hawks coach Luke Yanule. "We played very well and dominated for 28 minutes. We turned the ball over several times in key situations. You have to be able to finish. We're pretty upset about this one."