Team effort lifts IC Catholic past Glenbard South
Without the services of a pair of starters, IC Catholic knew it needed a complete team effort Friday to stay atop the Metro Suburban Blue standings.
As it turns out, the Knights ended up getting just that.
With seven players contributing 4 points or more, IC found a way to pull out a 61-57 win over Glenbard South in Elmhurst.
"It was an all-around team effort from the coaching staff to every man on the bench," said IC coach T.J. Tyrrell, whose team played without leading scorer and rebounder Austin Reed and his younger brother Amari. "That was a battle, it was a physical game. We knew we were undersized and in order to beat a team like Glenbard South we would have to play together and they did an excellent job of that."
Alex Meurer broke a 55-55 tie by sinking two free throws with 32.6 seconds left, and Kevin Cheng later went 4 for 4 from the line to close it out.
"It was a great feeling to get to the line and knock them down," Meurer said. "It was a great win, a good team effort. Our defense led to it; we played really good defense and people stepped up."
Cheng topped the Knights with 18 points. That output included a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter as the home team overcame a 24-22 halftime deficit to take a 5-point lead into the fourth.
Meurer finished with 12 points, Nico Gaudio totaled 8 points and 8 rebounds, and Matt Sutton came off the bench to score 8. IC improved to 17-7 overall and 8-2 in league play.
"We really emphasized 'team'," Cheng said. "It's not something we are used to, playing with different lineups. But we were passing the ball and getting good shots and we played team ball.
"And we weren't shooting the ball well from the free-throw line at the beginning, but when it mattered we were able to make them. We were able to keep our composure."
The Raiders (11-13, 6-4), who entered the contest trailing IC and Aurora Central Catholic by one game in the conference standings, were down by as many as 9 points in the final quarter. But they responded with a 10-2 spurt to pull within 49-48. Brandon Whiteside later hit a 3 with 1:40 left to give the visitors a 55-53 lead.
Charlie Bair led all scorers with 19 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Peter Jeske had 15 points and Whiteside contributed 14.
"This has been us all season long," Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke said. "Start slow, battle back and finish close. We just still haven't gotten over that hump. They outscrapped us, outworked us, outplayed us. They certainly looked like they played hard together and they looked cohesive. They took it to us from the get-go."