Glenbard South dispatches Solorio
If you're a high seed in any basketball tournament, from the NCAAs on down, that opening-round game can be fraught with concern.
The opponent is usually an unknown commodity, willing to play loose with nothing to lose and absolutely everything to gain.
That describes Glenbard South's Wednesday evening against a pesky but ultimately overmatched Chicago Solorio.
The Raiders, fifth-seeded in the Class 3A Hinsdale South sectional, beat the Sun Warriors 84-56 in a regional semifinal at Riverside-Brookfield, but the game was closer than the score might indicate.
Solorio canned 11 3-point shots, including 7 in the first half, to take a 15-13 lead with 1:34 left in the first quarter and pull to as close as 36-32 with 2:44 left in the second.
Coming out of halftime, another four 3-pointers got Solorio within 58-50. But then the Raiders asserted themselves, putting together a 14-0 run to end the third quarter and a 12-2 spurt to start the fourth, which instigated a running clock.
"We knew they played quick and they were really aggressive," said junior guard Aryton Temcio. "They played a couple of teams we played already this season."
"We saw a lot of film," added junior center Jacob Folkerts, who chipped in 16 points, including a steal and a dunk as part of a 9-0 run late in the first half. "We compared them to our last game, our conference championship, East Aurora, how athletic they are, so we had the mindset of box out, call out screens and everything."
Glenbard South (25-4) managed to hold Solorio's leading scorer, sophomore Donovan Jones, to just 17 points, 4 under his average, but that was compensated by junior Jordan Hill's 25, including six 3-pointers.
Hill hit a pair midway through the first quarter that tied the game at 11-11, and then Jones dropped one from the top of the key at 1:34 to give the Sun Warriors that brief 15-13 lead.
"I think there was a lot of those early tournament jitters," Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke said. "Most of the guys that we had out there, it was their first run, and tonight's a different night. There's a different feel when the tournament starts. And you have to give (Solorio) credit, they shot the ball, and they were playing loose and letting it fly."
The Raiders did ultimately weather the storm and put the game away midway through the third quarter with that 14-0 run, punctuated by Temcio's only 3 of the evening, from the left arc with 2:31 left. The run put the game out of reach by the end of the period, 72-50.
Glenbard South put five players in double figures in scoring - Temcio scored 18 points, Folkerts had 16, senior Nick Plaso and junior Cade Hardtke both scored 15 and senior Brandon Malone 10.
The Raiders also controlled the boards, outrebounding Solorio 25-9. They'll face host Riverside-Brookfield at 7 p.m. Friday for the regional title.