Glenbrook South tops Mundelein in Lake Zurich semifinals
Left-hander Dom Martinelli went up with the basketball, thought he'd get fouled underneath the rim, hesitated, shifted the ball to his right hand, ducked and dipped, hesitated again, then - before his feet hit hardwood - somehow released a no-look reverse flip.
The ridiculously entertaining shot by the 6-foot-5 Glenbrook South senior guard-forward kissed glass, descended leisurely and ... jostled twine.
The Titan executed it Saturday afternoon in the third quarter of Glenbrook South's 71-63 defeat of Mundelein in the second MLK Classic boys basketball semifinal at Lake Zurich.
The sequence belonged in a circus - in between a trapeze act and a juggling show and next to a pair of flaming hoops.
"As I watched him do that, I thought, 'There's no way that's going in,' " Mundelein junior forward Jack Bikus said. "Great player.
"Crafty player," the Mustang added.
And highly productive. Martinelli poured in a game-high 36 points - 51 percent of South's output - and grabbed 10 rebounds, another second-to-none figure. Sixteen of his points came in the third frame, when GBS (17-2) busted a 35-35 halftime score with an 8-0 spurt in the first 3:27 and limited Mundelein (15-3) to 7 points.
Mundelein had stunned GBS with a 25-point second quarter, getting 9 points from 6-8 junior center Scottie Ebube (14 points, 8 rebounds), including a dunk at 1:21 that untangled a 30-30 knot.
Glenbrook South struck for another 8-0 run at the start of the fourth quarter, stretching its lead to 55-42 behind 2 free throws from sophomore guard Cooper Noard (12 points) and 6 consecutive points from Martinelli. Mundelein chipped, chipped, chipped away, narrowing the Titans' gap to 69-63 on junior guard Conor Enright's fourth 3-pointer at the 0:25 mark.
Martinelli closed the scoring with a pair of freebies.
Each squad was coming off a defeat of a conference rival Friday night. Mundelein topped Libertyville 74-58, and GBS edged New Trier 45-44.
Enright surpassed 1,000 career points in the North Suburban Conference clash and started the MLK semifinal in grand style, nailing a trey for the game's first points only 25 seconds after the tip. The 6-2 Mustang with the quick first step and textbook shooting form would finish with a team-high 18 points and collect 7 boards against Glenbrook South.
"We battled," said Mustangs coach Matt Badgley, who had to compete without 6-3 junior forward Syam Atade (illness); Atade finished with 5 points, 11 rebounds and 2 steals against Libertyville's Wildcats Friday night.
The 6-3 Bikus hit three of his club's nine 3s en route to a 13-point, 7-rebound afternoon against the potent Central Suburban League South program. He and Enright each connected for a triple in a 50-second span in the second stanza, making it a 22-22 contest. Less than a minute later, Bikus's turnaround jumper concluded an 11-1 eruption. The Mustangs would secure two advantages (32-30 and 35-32) before the break but none after intermission.
Mundelein junior guard Chris Mooney netted 9 of his 11 points in the final 8 minutes. Mundelein's 9-0 run, from 2:47 to 1:04 in the fourth quarter? That was all Mooney, and he scored via a 3, via a field goal and via 4 free throws.
Titans 6-foot senior guard Stevon Boyd, blessed with an uncanny ability to dribble smoothly and quickly in heavy traffic, tallied 10 points and snared 5 boards.
"It was a hard game ... hard to get into a flow," Badgley admitted. "That's a very good team, Glenbrook South; we knew that. We'll be fine. We have great players, great kids.
"It was a game in January," the coach added.
Badgley's boys will play their third January game in four days Monday, when they face host Lake Zurich in the MLK Classic third-place game at 11:30 a.m.; Glenbrook South meets Cary-Grove (a 51-45 winner over LZ in Saturday afternoon's first semifinal) for the tourney title Monday at 2:30 p.m.