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Barrington rolls by Schaumburg with big defensive effort

It's safe to say that nobody saw this one coming when host Barrington met Schaumburg Thursday night in Mid-Suburban West boys basketball action.

The Broncos set the tone from the outset with some great 3-point shooting by 6-foot-6 senior Will Grudzinski as they built a 20-11 lead after one quarter before taking a comfortable 37-19 lead into halftime.

But things got worse before they got better for the Saxons in the second half as they were shutout 12-0 in the third quarter to give Barrington (17-4, 5-2) a commanding 49-19 lead heading into the fourth quarter, which was played with a running clock the rest of the game.

With both teams using free substitution the remainder of the way, the Broncos posted a lopsided 55-22 victory over Schaumburg (11-10, 0-7) after they had only beaten the Saxons 57-51 in the first meeting on Dec. 10.

Grudzinski's fifth 3-pointer with 3:47 remaining in the second quarter gave Barrington its biggest lead of the contest at 31-12 before senior teammate Daniel Hong's outside shot boosted the lead to 37-17 with 27 seconds left in the first half.

The Saxons' offense really went cold in the third quarter as they ran into a buzz saw with a 3-point play by Hong extending the lead to 45-17 with 5:30 left in the period.

"We had a great practice leading up to this. We really want to win conference, and that loss to Hoffman Estates really stung us and propelled us to go forward," said Hong, whose team hosts Dundee-Crown on Saturday. "It really takes the pressure off everyone else when (Grudzinski) can score like that because so many guys are focused on him. He gets other guys open and he can distribute so it worked out for us for sure."

Schaumburg senior Fabian Baez scored all of his team-high 12 points in the first half while teammate Jordan Tunis chipped in 6 points.

"The game is a little easier when the ball is going in. Obviously we're happy with our effort, and we did a good job at the defensive end of the floor," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker, whose team outrebounded Schaumburg 23-11 overall.

"Schaumburg was battling some injuries there and it was just one of those nights where things worked for us and they had an off night."

Barrington 6-foot-11 center Nate Boldt had 8 rebounds, 4 points, and 3 assists while senior teammate Tyler Groom had 5 steals.

" (Grudzinski) did a really good job taking good shots and getting other people open," added Tucker, whose team outscored Schaumburg 6-3 in the fourth quarter.

"We got great contributions from top to bottom, and it was great to get everybody in the game."

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