Hardtke, Glenbard South enjoy fast start vs. Kaneland

While all good things must eventually come to an end, that's not to say strong efforts can't be made to extend those good things.

A veteran Glenbard South squad made sure the Raiders' good times will last beyond Tuesday's Class 3A regional semifinal contest against Kaneland. Senior forward Cole Hardtke and his teammates started fast and never looked back in a 74-55 defeat of the Knights.

Hardtke, who scored a personal-best 29 points, said last year's regional semifinal to St. Francis stuck in the back of his mind this season and helped the top-seeded Raiders (22-6) stay focused on advancing to at least the IMSA regional final Friday night where they'll face either St. Francis or Montini, who squared off in Tuesday's late contest.

"Last year we had an early loss to St. Francis, and us as seniors we don't want to do that again," said Hardtke, who stormed out to a 13-point first quarter as Glenbard South took a 27-15 lead. "We're supposed to not remember that (loss) until it comes to the playoffs … but me personally I was remembering that."

Kevin Enright and Tommy Powers each chipped in with early 3-pointers for the Raiders. Then Hardtke went on a scoring spree that proved too much for the Knights to overcome. Powered by the 27-point first quarter, the top-seeded Raiders led 40-30 at the half and 51-40 after three quarters on their way to advancing.

"We stressed in practice that we needed to get out to good starts," he said. "Recently we haven't been starting well … I mean it all started with our guards pushing the ball and when we made a move we went with it. Kaneland did a great job fighting back. They hit open shots, they used ball screens, all of that. Kaneland did a really good job. Hats off to them."

Knights point guard Will Cushman led the way with 18 points, including a 9-for-13 night from the foul line. Luke Brost added 10 points.

But it was not enough on a night when the favorites started strong and stayed strong enough even after Kaneland had trimmed the deficit to 51-42 early in the fourth.

"One of my assistant coaches said that's probably the best start he's seen in two years. Couldn't ask for a better start," Raiders coach Wade Hardtke said. "It was important for us, we hadn't played since Wednesday … I was very happy with the start that we got. They came ready to play today."

Kaneland coach Russ Zick felt his team needed to be at its best to upset the Raiders, and the slow start just left too big a hole to dig out of.

"We came out of the chute pretty slow. We didn't like that at all," said Zick, whose team used an overtime defeat of IMSA on Monday to reach the regional semifinals. "We started the game with a turnover and the first three, four minutes it was really hard to take. Then we were behind the eight ball the whole way."

That said, Zick knows what we has up against. "We probably could play them 10 times and not beat them once. They're really good," he said.

Cole Hardtke hopes his team keeps playing up to its capabilities.

"It was, I mean I think we played the way that we're capable of playing all year," he said. "We did that in the Upstate Eight, now we just want to come in and play as well as we can in the tournament and make some noise. I want to go out on a high note instead of the low note."