Boys basketball: Glenbard West pulls away late for win at Burlington Central

BURLINGTON – Glenbard West was on the cusp of pulling away from Burlington Central a few times during Wednesday night’s non-conference game in Burlington but the Rockets kept fighting back.

Finally, after scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the fourth quarter, the Hilltoppers built a big enough lead to pull through, 59-55.

“We’re just trying to figure it out,” Hilltoppers coach Jason Opoka said. “We’re very young as a team so we’re maturing over time and I think we’re doing some great things, but we’re also making some mistakes that can be fixed, especially for a late run in February.”

Glenbard West (8-7) enjoyed its biggest lead at 32-20 after a steal and a layup from TJ Williams with 2:18 left in the first half.

Burlington Central (10-5) still trailed by double digits at 36-26 midway through the third quarter, but finished the quarter with a 14-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 40-38.

The youth of the Rockets was on display during the run with Patrick Magan turning an offensive rebound into a basket and Bennett Braden knocking down a three-pointer and scoring on a pair of layups.

Magan, Braden and fellow Burlington Central freshmen Ryan Carpenter and Joseph Cumpata combined for 15 points and nine rebounds.

“Outside of Myles (Lowe), we’re extremely young and some of our returners had different roles when they were up with us and stuff like that,” Rockets coach Brett Porto said. “So we continue to improve and hopefully at some point we stop being young and build off of that. We’re telling not just them, but everyone, about being aggressive and making aggressive mistakes and we saw that in stretches today.”

Jake Johnson, fresh off being named to the all-tournament team at Plano, led the Rockets with 18 points and eight rebounds. Lowe and Bennek Braden each had 11 points. Lowe added seven rebounds.

TJ Williams led the Hilltoppers with a game-high 19 points while Bennett Schwanke had 10 points as well as a fantastic assist during a 14-2 run to open the fourth quarter that proved to be the difference. Julian Yeh added nine points and Danny Monahan chipped in with eight points for the winners.

“I think we all came together,” Schwanke said. “We faced some adversity in the third quarter when they went on that (12-2) run and we just came together as a team and put them away.”

After Schwanke’s drive into the lane and dish to Williams for an open three that he drilled, Williams followed with a steal and layup for a 50-42 advantage with 3:45 left to play.

“It all started with our defense,” Opoka said. “Getting tips, deflections and steals that gave us confidence in transition and on the offensive end.”

Struggles by the Hilltoppers at the free throw line allowed the Rockets to hang around. While the Rockets were 10-of-12 shooting from the line, the Hilltoppers were just 11-of-26.

“I think it’s not been a thing for us,” Opoka said. “We’re shooting about 65% from the free throw line, but it’s our first game back from break. We had a couple days off so maybe they’re not in the gym enough. But it’s all about confidence, stepping up to the line knowing you’re going to make it, getting your mantra and then putting the orange thing in the orange thing.”

The Hilltoppers were coming off a nice win over Naperville North to finish play 2-2 in the Jack Tosh Holiday Classic.

“Anytime you can come out of the Tosh 2-2 you can kind of tell where you’re at,” Opoka said. “Beating a good Andrew team and beating a good Naperville North team.”

The Rockets finished fifth in the Plano Christmas Classic tournament. Although Cinderella story Plano upset them last Thursday, the Rockets rebounded to beat LaSalle-Peru 67-54 and then outscored Northridge Prep, 18-6 in the fourth quarter of a 54-52 come-from-behind win for fifth place.

“We just continue to go through stretches where we’re really good and really bad,” Porto said.  “In that third quarter we played a little more consistently all around. I thought our cuts were better, our two-foot decisions were better and we played a little bit tougher.

“We talked about how we can start the fight instead of always fighting to come back,” he continued. “Once we figure that out we can be pretty good.”