A big win, and week, for Barrington

Anthony Spann capped off a great week for Barrington's boys basketball team.

On Thursday, the Broncos were awarded the No. 2 seed in the Class 4A Lake Zurich sectional.

And on Friday, Spann poured in 18 points Friday to lead the Broncos past Fremd 53-43.

The win gave Barrington (21-5, 7-3) a share of the Mid-Suburban West title with Palatine, which beat Schaumburg to also finish the conference season at 7-3.

It came down to tiebreakers - and Barrington got its third win of the week there.

Barrington and Palatine split their regular-season games, which was the first tiebreaker. Next was victories against each other by more than 7 points. Barrington beat Palatine by 10 points and lost to the Pirates by 6, giving them the opportunity to host a MSL title game for the first time.

It will be MSL East champion Prospect (20-5) at Barrington on Wednesday for the MLS title.

"This is a neat experience for our kids," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker, who has guided the Broncos to two previous appearances in the conference title game. "Those are the the little things that are part of history. It was a fun locker room after the game."

Spann, who attacked the basket for the Broncos and converted 10 of 12 free throws said that his team's hard work paid huge dividends.

"It was a lot of work," Spann said. "We worked hard for this all season. I am not surprised, but maybe people around us are. Ever since the beginning of the season, I knew we had a chance to win."

Jake Parsons, who finished with 10 points, said the locker room celebration was a blast.

"It was a crazy locker room in there," Parsons said. "The work we put in to be here and the work did in practice every day was for this moment."

Fremd (15-10, 5-5) did what it could to spoil that party.

The Vikings were playing again without top scorer Bryce Hopkins, who was still nursing an ankle injury. But they refused to give in even when they trailed by 13 with four minutes to play.

Fremd forced 3 turnovers and turned each into 3s, with 2 from Isaiah Turner and another from Jake Schoffstall to cut the lead to 47-43 with just over two minutes to play.

The Vikings had the ball and an opportunity to cut into the lead even more. But Fremd turn the ball over on its next two possessions, and Jack Reinhard and Spann both nailed 2 free throws to put the game away for Barrington.

"From the start to the finish I thought we gave a tremendous effort tonight," Fremd coach Bob Widlowski said. "We were pleased with that effort, but our execution was off at times."

Both teams committed 16 turnovers. And each team took advantage of turnovers to change the pace of the game.

Barrington had a nice lead early. But turnovers, combined with foul trouble for Parsons and Reinhard, enabled Fremd to take a 16-13 lead. Justin Alperin came off the bench to give Barrington a much-needed spark as they led 23-21 at the break.

"Coach always talks about being positive," said Alperin, who had 7 points and 5 rebounds in a supporting role. "I try to come off the bench with lots of effort and that was my goal tonight."

Fremd, which converted 8 three-pointers, tied it at 30 with 1:34 left in the third quarter on a trey by Turner, who finished with 14 points.

The Vikings trailed 34-32 early in the fourth quarter when Barrington turned the tables on them, thanks in part to a pair of turnovers. The Broncos ran off 8 unanswered points in a 13-2 run to grab a 47-34 lead.

"We had some breakdowns defensively," Tucker said. "But our kids were able to respond enough to play when we needed it."