December 21, 2024
Sports

High school boys basketball: Glenbard South surges into sectional final

By MATT LE
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Glenbard South senior Jonathan Walker plays intense defense on March 4 during a regional final win against Burlington Central. The Raiders topped Belvidere in a sectional semifinal on March 8 and will play in their first sectional final since 2000 on March 11. (Mark Busch)

WOODSTOCK – Glenbard South’s boys basketball team functions best when both of the Bair brothers, Billy and Charlie, are in the lineup.

But the Raiders proved they can survive with just one of the 6-foot-5 standouts on the court.

Senior Billy Bair sat out all but two of the final 12 minutes in foul trouble, but Charlie, a junior, snagged 10 of his game-high 13 rebounds in the second half and scored two key baskets down the stretch as the Raiders knocked off Belvidere 56-47 in a Class 3A Woodstock North sectional semifinal March 8.

Glenbard South (20-9) will make its first sectional final appearance since 2000 on March 11 against Rockford Boylan or Kaneland.

“It’s a feeling unlike anything else,” Glenbard South senior guard Tim Marks said. “It’s what every kid dreams of.”

The dream was in jeopardy when Belvidere (16-17) took advantage of Billy Bair’s absence to erase a six-point deficit and tie the foul-plagued game at 40-40 with 5:03 remaining in the fourth quarter.

But senior guard Povilas Riauba, whose last-second 3-pointer lifted the Raiders to a 60-57 win against Burlington Central in the regional final March 4, scored seven of his 14 points after that and assisted on back-to-back baskets by Marks and Charlie Bair that triggered a 10-2 run that put the game away.

Marks, who hit 6 of 9 shots en route to a game-high 15 points, was one of the few players to generate consistent offense.

“We were passing the ball around the perimeter a lot and it seemed like it wasn’t really working,” Marks said. “So I just tried to see what I could do, take it to the hoop a couple times and it worked in our favor.”

Defense and rebounding, which were lacking in the first half, also were crucial for the Raiders, who allowed only three points in the third quarter and four baskets in the second half.

Belvidere missed 16 straight shots at one point and Charlie Bair seemed to grab every important rebound. In a game that saw 47 fouls called, he managed to commit only two.

“We knew they were going to call it tight, so we just had to play our game and not foul so they wouldn’t get to the line,” said Charlie Bair, who added eight points and two assists. “I don’t think we were boxing out in the first half and in the locker room we just talked about how we had to box out and not let them get the boards, and we did that in the second half.”

The Raiders did it with Billy Bair being limited to seven points and two rebounds.

“He’s a huge part of our team offensively and defensively,” Marks said. “But when we see him on the bench, we can’t take the foot off the gas and we’ve just got to keep going and play with what we’ve got.”

Charlie Bair, who helped limit Belvidere’s 6-5 star Deante Barnes to just four points and no field goals, agreed.

“He’s probably the biggest piece in our lineup and to have him out messes things up,” Charlie Bair said. “But we came together and figured it out.”

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If you go

Who: Glenbard South vs. Boylan/Kaneland

What: Class 3A Woodstock North sectional final

When: 7 p.m. March 11

Where: 3000 Raffel Road, Woodstock