Glenbard South wins in Hardtke's return to Glenbard East
Glenbard South boys basketball coach Wade Hardtke rediscovered some familiar sights and sounds of his youth when the Raiders came into Lombard on Friday.
A Glenbard East graduate and the sixth youngest of seven siblings to attend East, he first started scrambling around the gym when he was 2 years old.
One thing was totally foreign.
"This is the first time I've ever been over on that (visitors) bench. It was definitely weird sitting over on that side," said the 1989-90 captain of the Daily Herald DuPage County Boys Basketball All-Area Team, the second ever awarded.
It became weird in a good way. Glenbard South improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Upstate Eight Conference with a 47-40 victory over the host Rams (4-7, 2-4).
"We were just trying to live up to his legacy," said smiling Raiders guard Kevin Enright, who scored a game-high 15 points behind 11-of-15 free-throw shooting. The Raiders' 23-of-35 foul shooting went a long way toward outdistancing Glenbard East, a quicker team overall.
"Definitely quicker, they put a ton of pressure on you especially up front," Hardtke said, "and I thought our guys did a nice job trying to use the dribble to relieve some of that pressure and get to the foul line."
Both teams committed more turnovers than they made baskets in a first quarter Glenbard East led 13-9 on a pair of Jake Huisman 3-point baskets.
Glenbard South got into the bonus at 5:42 of the second quarter. The Raiders made 7 of 11 free throws to lead 20-18 at halftime despite the rugged play of the Rams' Jeremy Johnson and rebounding of 6-foot-6 Antonio Davis and mobile guards Deon Cook and DaRon Hall.
"The first half we've just got to make a little bit better adjustment, we've got to get our hands off a little bit more," said Glenbard East coach Scott Miller. "But I thought Antonio Davis probably played the best game he's played all year. He really came in with a lot of energy and I was happy with that."
An inside basket by Glenbard South 10-point scorer Ryan Harrington from Tavion Keith's penetration and dish was countered by Davis' three-point play in a tight third quarter that ended with Glenbard South leading 31-29.
"I thought we did a good job being strong with the ball after the beginning," Enright said.
The Raiders bumped the lead to 40-31 on a 3 by senior forward Cole Hardtke - one of the coach's two sons on the team, along with sophomore guard Cade - but two Davis baskets and another Huisman 3 pulled Glenbard East within 42-38 with 1:14 to play.
"We were just moving the ball a lot, swinging it, everybody was getting a lot of touches. We were penetrating, kicking. Everybody was just finding guys open," said Davis, who grabbed 8 rebounds and scored 9 points, tying Huisman for Rams scoring honors.
The Raiders closed it out on a 5-2 mini-run, Enright going 4 for 4 from the foul line and Cade Hardtke adding a free throw.
After committing 6 first-quarter turnovers the Raiders made only 5 the next three quarters while forcing the Rams into 16 for the game.
"You've got to give Glenbard South a lot of credit," Miller said. "They stepped up, they worked for their shot on the offensive end and they stepped over and locked us up at the defensive end."
Wade Hardtke didn't dispense any specific advice to his players on how to do that on his old court.
"I try to keep it about them," he said. "I think some of them know that I played here, but to them 1990 was a long time ago."