Glenbard East Ends the Cinderella Story for Glenbard West

Glenbard West overcame long odds to get to the championship round of the Lombard Regional. The No. 21 seed Hilltoppers fought off No. 11 seed Oswego East, and then came back two days later to take down the No. 6 seed Waubonsie Valley.  One more upset this week just was not in the cards.

The high-powered No. 3 seed Glenbard East Rams proved to be too much for the Hilltoppers. A smothering defense and three-point shooters that didn’t seem to ever miss gave the Rams a comfortable 72-47 victory Friday night at Glenbard East.

The Hilltoppers managed to hang tough, through. The Rams jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but a basket by Todd Lowery and a three-point play by Evan Fischl brought the Hilltoppers even. The teams traded baskets and then a three-point field goal by Egan Montgomery brought the Hilltoppers back within three at 12-9. As time was winding down, though, a buzzer-beater by the Ram’s Dante Bailey gave the Rams a 15-9 lead going into the second quarter.

The Rams started to extend the lead quickly in the second as they went on an 11-2 run. Zach Miller, Dante Bailey and Kevin Priebe all hit threes in the run. 

Give the battling Hilltoppers credit as they continued to fight back. 

“We came in knowing they were a really good team and we had nothing to lose,” said Center Tim Lowery. “So we just tried to go out there the entire game and just work to stay in it.”

Michael Mache repeatedly drove the lane in a very physical game and came out with six points in the quarter. Second-quarter baskets from Matthew Mache and Justin Taylor kept the Hilltoppers within striking distance. But in the end, the Rams' press caused turnovers that gave them more offensive opportunities than the Hilltoppers. Though the Hilltoppers scored 17 points in the second, Glenbard East scored 28 points and took a 43-26 lead into half.

“I felt for the most part we played confidently,” said Hilltopper senior Evan Fischl.  “They did put a lot of pressure on us but we managed to do pretty well. We kept our heads even though they hit all those threes in a row. And you’ve got to give them some credit – they shot really well.”

The Hilltoppers came out after half and started to cut into the Rams' lead. Matthew Mache, Jeff Levesque and Michael Mache all scored early to narrow the Rams' lead.

“We needed to turn it up a bit,” said senior DeShawn Elliott about their half-time talk. "Turn up the intensity and match their level of intensity. They were playing physical so we needed to match or exceed it.”

The quick East defense would not go away, though, and the Rams managed to use their defense to ignite their offense and stretch their lead to 43-26 after three.

“I’m proud of the way our kids battled all week to get ourselves in this position,” said Coach Tim Hoder. "It was a great experience for the seniors to get to the game—a championship game like this. It was great for our juniors to see, to build on.”

High scorers in the game were Dante Bailey with 20 for Glenbard East and Michael Mache with 12 for Glenbard West. 

Glenbard West  47  Glenbard East  72

Glenbard West    9   17    10   11

Glenbard East    15   28   19   10

Glenbard West: Fischl 2 1-1 6, Montgomery 1 0-0 3, Loftus 0 2-2 2, Taylor 1 1-2 3, Corbin 1 0-0 2, Levesque 2 1-4 5, Lowery 2 0-0 4, Matthew Mache 2 5-6 9, Michael Mache 4 4-4 12, Marcus 0 1-2 1

Glenbard East: Baily 8 2-2 20, Priebe 5 0-0 11, York  1 1-1 3, Kinney 2 0-0 4, Cooper  1 0-0 3, Miller 5 1-2 15, Peterson 1 0-0 3, Hill 4 4-5 12, Kitahata 0 1-2 1

Three-Point Field Goals: Glenbard West(2):  Fischl, Montgomery, Glenbard East(9): Bailey(2), York, Cooper, Miller(4), Peterson