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Glenbard South comeback catches Ridgewood

Glenbard South's Peter Jeske and Charlie Bair saved their best for last.

The two seniors combined for 18 points in the fourth quarter, rallying the Raiders from an 8-point deficit with 5:40 remaining to a 52-50 victory over Ridgewood in a Metro Suburban Conference boys basketball crossover Friday in Glen Ellyn.

Jeske scored 16 points including a sweet baseline drive to a reverse layup that got the Raiders within 46-42 with 3:21 remaining, and the 6-foot-6 Bair had 18 rebounds and 18 points, including a three-point play with 21 seconds left that gave Glenbard South a 51-49 lead.

"We were really excited to have Ridgewood here on our homecourt," Jeske said. "They went deep in the playoffs last year (reaching a Class 3A supersectional before losing to St. Joseph). It was good energy. It was a good time."

Glenbard South (10-8) jumped out to a 22-15 lead with 3:36 remaining in the first half, then remained scoreless over the next 5:09 as Ridgewood (11-7) went on a 22-7 tear behind 6-4 guard Zachary Rzewnicki.

"I thought we rushed some shots and we settled for a lot of shots," said Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke. "We were open, but we weren't really in a flow. We weren't in rhythm, and that threw us off.

"That (baseline drive by Jeske) sparked us," the coach added. "That sparked him. That was a strong move. That was within the flow, within the rhythm we were talked about. We fed off that."

Junior Paris Holmes made the second of a double-bonus free-throw opportunity to extend the lead to 52-49 with 6.6 seconds remaining, and rather than let Ridgewood attempt a tying 3-pointer, Glenbard South fouled Ridgewood's Josh Carrasquillo with 3.4 seconds left.

Carrasquillo made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second, but during the scramble for the rebound the ball went off a Glenbard South player and out of bounds with 1.4 seconds on the clock.

However, after Ridgewood put the ball back in play, Rzewnicki couldn't convert a fadeaway jumper from the baseline as time expired.

"Guys stepped up when they needed to," Hardtke said. "We talk about it every day in practice … valuing possessions, especially during crunchtime. The last timeout we called before we took the lead, we talked about having good possessions with good shot attempts. Fortunately, it worked out for us."

Brandon Whiteside added 10 points for Glenbard South, and Richie Zacharias chipped in with 12 points for Ridgewood.

"When it came down to it, we just got stops when we needed to and we got easy baskets when we needed to," Jeske said. "That's how you win ballgames."

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