Bartlett hangs on against Glenbard East

Bartlett's 10-point lead nearly evaporated in 70 seconds when faced with Glenbard East rainmakers, but the Hawks didn't lose their grip in Friday's 56-50 win.

It seemed as though Bartlett had an Upstate Eight Valley boys basketball win all but locked up when senior Jordan Anderson drove from the left elbow, threw down a left-handed dunk over a defender and drew the foul. The three-point play staked his team to a 49-39 lead with 1:39 left.

But before the Hawks could say cruise control Glenbard East senior Justin Gilford, junior Zach Walsh and sophomore Michael Finley each drained 3-pointers in a 70-second span - capped by Finley's make with 20 seconds left - to fuel an 11-2 run that drew the visiting Rams within 51-50. Bartlett's 4 missed free throws in that span left the door open.

"To our kids credit they kept battling, kept battling, getting into the game," Glenbard East coach Scott Miller said. "That's been the story of this team, that they don't quit. No matter how bad we may look at times handling the ball, turning it over, those kinds of things, we kept fighting, which was a good thing."

However, following a timeout the Hawks broke Glenbard East's back by breaking its full-court press. A double-teamed Jordan Anderson passed ahead to streaking Ryan DiCanio for a press-defeating layup with a foul call to boot.

DiCanio's free throw gave the Hawks a 4-point lead with 12 seconds left and he added 2 more with 1.5 second remaining after the Rams missed twice at the other end and were forced to foul.

"After that dunk we had a nice 10-point lead," said DiCanio, who finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. "Just defensive breakdowns, just let them back in the game. We have to learn to close out games better and keep our head and minds in the game both offensively and defensively."

Bartlett (15-6, 6-2) stayed within a game of UEC Valley leader Neuqua Valley by sharing the scoring load. In addition to DiCanio's 12 points, 6-foot-5 junior Jason Hasenberg scored 14 points, 6-1 senior guard Tyler Pauletti had 11 and 6-4 forward Robby Jimenez added 10 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Anderson scored 6 points to round out a 53-point performance by Bartlett's starting five.

"One of the things we talked about is how pretty these guys are when they share the ball," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "I thought Jason, Jordan, Tyler, Robby, all of them did a great job sharing the ball."

Glenbard East (10-11, 5-4) shot 10 of 21 from the 3-point line (47.6 percent), which was better than its 30 percent efficiency from 2-point range. Finley and Walsh did most of the damage offensively with 16 points apiece. The duo combined for six 3-pointers, paced by 4 from Walsh in 7 attempts.