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Defense carries Barrington to win over Schaumburg

Barrington's boys basketball team gave Schaumburg lots of zzz's Friday night.

The Broncos' Damian Zivak scored 20 points while the Barrington defense put Schaumburg to sleep in a convincing 49-36 victory.

The win avenged an earlier one-point loss to Schaumburg by the Broncos (18-5, 5-3) and kept them alive in the Mid-Suburban West title race. It also knocked Schaumburg (20-5, 6-2) out of a tie for first with Palatine.

Zivak, who is a junior, attacked Schaumburg from the inside and the outside.

"We really focused on our defense and knew our offense would come to us," Zivak said. "I do not mind trying to play inside. That's just the way I play. I know what I have to do to help my team win the game."

Barrington's length also gave Schaumburg fits on the offensive end of the court. With Connor Keenan, Nate Boldt and Will Grudzinksi switching off to keep Michael Hodges from the basket, Barrington used that length in the other positions to keep the Saxons at bay.

"We just complimented the kids on their defense," Barrington coach Bryan Tucker said. "We had a good week of preparation. We got some combinations where we had some good matchups. Some perimeter kids aren't used to that length. That length made them feel uncomfortable.

Schaumburg built an early 9-6 lead as the Saxons were able to get the ball inside to Hodges, who would then slam the ball down the hoop. But it was Schaumburg who got slammed from there.

Barrington totally shut down the Saxons for the next 10 minutes. Schaumburg missed all 10 of its shots during that span and turned the ball over five times.

Meanwhile, Barrington began to spread the ball on the offensive end. Zivak, Dylan Keenan and Aaron Sarkar, who was playing his first game in the last couple of weeks after being sidelined with an injury, all were able to score as the Broncos went on a 17-1 run to take a 23-10 lead.

"You can't win that way," Schaumburg coach Wade Heisler said. "When you run an offense from as far out as you are, it is tough. A lot of it was them. I thought the physicality bothered us and they are bigger than we are other than one."

Schaumburg tried to mount a comeback and closed to 11 on a pair of occasions. But each time the Saxons would make a run, Barrington countered and got the lead to as many as 18.

"Our focus was on defense," said Dylan Keenan, who finished with 11 points and had 2 steals that turned into driving layups.

"My teammates were doing a real good job of getting me the ball. I kind of had the freedom to drive, so I took it and it worked out pretty well."

Sarkar had 8 points for Barrington while Charlie Loomis came of the bench to score 6 points.

"We were pretty pleased on both ends of the floor," Tucker said.

Schaumburg was led by Jared Schoo, who had 9 points. Hodges had 7 points and Joseph Sturino had 6 points.

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