advertisement

Hinsdale Central wakes up in time to beat Glenbard East

Hinsdale Central coach Nick Latorre banged the snooze alarm when it seemed Saturday's 3 p.m. boys basketball game came too early.

From there the host Red Devils' experience overcame Glenbard East's youth in a 60-36 nonconference win.

"We started off, our defense was real flat. We just had to get our stuff together and playing our ball. As soon as we started getting stops we just ran with it," said Hinsdale Central's 6-foot-6 Nate McGowan, one of 10 Red Devils scorers led by Jack Hoiberg with 12 points and Trevor Hamilton with 10.

Flatness was understandable: odd time, nonconference foe, but mainly Hinsdale Central (14-7) had come off a 1-point win over West Suburban Silver rival Lyons Twp.

Glenbard East (1-22) cared not at all. James Peterkin, Jimmy Fairbairn-Vargas and Anthony Shockey hit 3s to pace a 11-9 Rams lead.

In a timeout, Latorre used his outdoor voice.

"I just thought we didn't come out with any defensive energy and intensity, which was my fear coming in after playing our archrival last night in a hard-fought, emotional game," he said.

Like that, 5-foot-10 Hoiberg scored inside, Tomas Misiunas and Danny Ahern drew offensive fouls and Matt Rush hit a 3 to cap a 9-0 run. It established a pattern until Hinsdale Central's 14-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters set the lead at 53-28.

"We've just got to play harder," said hustling Glenbard East sophomore swingman Jeremy Johnson. "We all have it in us, we all have stuck together through thick and thin and we've just got to find a way to piece together wins."

Glenbard East, its fortunes cursed since star Michael Finley suffered a season-ending knee injury in preseason, sneaked within 9 points three times in the third quarter, twice on Peterkin baskets and again on freshman guard Alijah Nelson's spin move.

McGowan then converted an inbounds play. Hoiberg scored in transition and stole the ball back. That led to a McGowan three-point play for a 46-28 Red Devils lead entering the fourth quarter.

"We were a possession or two away from making it a ballgame," said Rams coach Scott Miller, who got a team-high 11 points from Peterkin.

"But our young guys are getting experience and that's what we're trying to do, get them acclimated to varsity basketball. That's what we have to do - we have to gain that experience so it's a different ballgame next year."

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.