Barrington slips past Conant
After speaking to his team following its 68-63 road win at Conant, Barrington boys basketball coach Bryan Tucker sat himself down in a chair that was to the side of the Perry Gym floor and reflected on what had been a battle all night.
The Broncos fought back from deficits as large as 9 in the first half and as many as 5 in the third prior to a late scoring surge inside of the game's final two minutes that netted their 16th victory of the season on Tucker's birthday.
"Every team throughout a season deals with some adversity," Tucker said. "We're really proud of our kids who stepped up. We had some who were fighting some adversity (through illness). Our kids did a nice job recognizing what the game was giving them."
For the Broncos (16-5, 4-3), it was host Conant giving them fits throughout.
The Cougars (3-16, 1-6) led by as many as 9 (25-16) midway through the second quarter before a 12-4 run allowed them to pull within 1 (29-28) at the break.
Barrington got a 6-0 surge at the end of the third that wiped out a 44-39 deficit over the final 1:37 of the third that put them ahead 45-44 on a trio of consecutive hoops from John Bulgarelli, Connor Keenan, and Will Grudzynski at the horn.
It would be Keenan's twin brother Dylan who would finally put them ahead to stay with 5 of his 19 points on back-to-back hoops that erased a 56-55 deficit on a Devon Ellis slam with 2 minutes remaining with his second being a 3-point play that gave them a 61-56 lead with 1:21 to play.
Conant got no closer than 61-59 on sophomore call-up Colin Francia's 3-pointer with 1 minute left that Grudzynski answered with his third trey of the game that completed his scoring a team-high 21 points eight ticks later.
"We kept our composure and we went down the court and made some big plays," Dylan Keenan said. "Will really hit some big shots. We had big contributions all-around."
In Conant's valiant effort, Ellis led all-scorers with a 28 point, 7 rebound, 4 assist showing while senior guard Matt McColaugh netted a career-high 17 points that included 4 triples.
Ellis took pride in is his team's performance.
"We didn't give up tonight," Ellis said. "When we were meeting after the game coach (Jim Maley IV) used the term, 'a young team emerging' and I feel like things are starting to click for us and turn into something good hopefully."