Glenbard South opens tourney with triumph over Hoffman Estates
Glenbard South opened its stay at the 18th annual Glenbard West Holiday Classic with a 13-point win.
Hoffman Estates made it feel closer than that.
Down 11 points at halftime, the Hawks opened the third quarter on a 21-4 run before Glenbard South regained its footing to win 61-48 Saturday.
"We finished around the basket and I thought we hit the offensive glass a lot harder in probably four possessions, maybe five possessions that were really crucial," said Raiders coach Wade Hardtke, pleased how his team responded coming off Friday's "track meet" with Streamwood.
Early, Glenbard South (6-2) hit the Hawks' passing lanes. Hardtke's junior son, Cade, snagged three first-quarter steals leading to smooth Brandon Malone jumpers to pace a 10-3 lead.
Hoffman Estates started to heat up with 3s from Adrian Stachura, Levent Sertesen and Nahum Smith-Hernandez, but there was no Raiders letdown. They shot 8 of 14 as Nick Plaso got involved with 6 points and 4 rebounds, and led 30-19 at halftime.
"Double-digit turnovers in the first half, never a good way to win a game," said Hawks coach Luke Yanule.
"The first quarter wasn't bad, but that second quarter, sometimes you get in a fog. You've got to get out of that fog, got to maintain clarity of mind and clarity of purpose. When we do that we're OK, we can play with anybody."
The fog lifted in the third quarter. Smith-Hernandez drilled three 3-point baskets and Jevin Dobbins, Vatsal Pandya and Nate Fisher each converted traditional three-point plays. Suddenly, Hoffman Estates led 40-34 at 1:28 of the third quarter.
"We always talk about winning the first two minutes of every half, the first and third quarters," Pandya said. "We came out and won the third quarter, so we were able to get that energy and build up our score."
It's a game of momentum - and rebounding, which Glenbard South owned 30-16 with 12 offensive rebounds. Aryton Temcio's putback kick-started a 7-0 run, his buzzer-beater baseline jumper from a Plaso pass ("picture-perfect," Temcio called it) putting the Raiders back up 41-40 entering the fourth quarter.
"We just had to slow down," Temcio said. "We were moving too fast for each other and not really communicating well. (Then) we became a unit again."
Temcio pulled down 6 fourth-quarter boards and Malone 3 more, one a fourth-chance putback that created a 49-44 lead with 5:10 to play.
Hoffman Estates moved within 51-48 on Pandya's running banker with 3:15 left, but Temcio, Malone, Jacob Folkerts and Cade Hardtke finished on a 10-0 run.
Malone led all scorers with 18 points. Plaso scored 12, Temcio scored 13 with 8 rebounds. Sertesen and Smith-Hernandez each scored 12 points for Hoffman Estates.