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Barrington surges to victory over Prospect

Prospect had the upper hand early Tuesday night against visiting Barrington.

Thanks to terrific defense, the Knights held a lead for most of the first quarter and a half.

Slowly but surely, though, the Broncos began to chip away, and with a flurry of points near the end of the first half, Barrington took control.

The visitors grabbed an 8-point lead before halftime, and extended it late in a 47-32 boys basketball win at Jean Walker Field House in Mount Prospect.

It was Barrington's turn to excel on "D" in the fourth quarter. The Broncos held the Knights to just 6 points in the period, with 4 of those coming in the final minute when the game was out of reach.

"We really felt like defense was going to be the key tonight," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. "We finally started getting it done when we needed to - at the right time.

"(Prospect) still got some good looks, but they missed some shots they normally make."

Midway through the second quarter, when Prospect senior guard Owen Schneider dished to junior teammate Charlie Gilmer for a wide-open 3-pointer, the score stood at 13-10 Knights.

But after that it was all Barrington in the stanza, and a Broncos run capped by a rebound and layup by 6-foot-6 senior guard Will Grudzinski saw the Broncos take a 25-17 lead.

Grudzinski opened the third quarter with consecutive buckets as Barrington opened up a double-digit advantage.

"He's a special player," said Tucker of Grudzinski. "He can hurt teams in a lot of ways. We're very fortunate to have him. Even when he's not scoring, he's finding the open man, cutting, doing a great job of rebounding and defending. Will did a nice job for us tonight."

Prospect was able to cut into the lead late in the third, and after 5 consecutive points from senior Patrick Freeman, the Knights trailed by only 5.

Then early in the fourth, 6-10 Barrington senior center Nate Boldt got a rebound and putback, then had a huge block on the defensive end which led to a coast-to-coast layup from Evan Jno-Baptiste.

At that point it was off to the races for the Broncos, as guard Daniel Hong and Jno-Baptiste each scored 6 points in the final period to put the game away.

Grudzinski led the way for Barrington with a game-high 19 points, while Hong finished with 13 and Jno-Baptiste had 10.

Freeman and Gilmer each scored 8 points to lead the Knights.

Prospect was 5-of-15 from 3-point range, while Barrington hit 4 3-pointers (2 by Grudzinski), with all of the shots from behind the arc by the Broncos coming in the first half.

"We love our kids," said Tucker. "They come out and compete every night, every day in practice. I think that's what tonight was all about. They know Prospect is a talented team, and it was a great opportunity for us."

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