Oturo Redento gets game-winning layup and steal in closing minutes to help Glenbard North hold off Batavia

CAROL STREAM — Glenbard North sophomore Oturo Redento knew that he needed to keep the ball out of Batavia’s hands.

With 6.6 seconds remaining and the Panthers holding a 46-42 lead, the Bulldogs were set up for an inbounds play, desperately hoping to even the score and force OT.

So when the sophomore saw the player he was defending make a move to get open, he knew it was time to get the ball back – and not leave anything to chance.

“I was defending a player in the corner, but then I saw the guy I was guarding go up and I made a read on it,” Redento said. “And then after that, I got us a steal to win the game.”

Redento’s steal in the final seconds, along with his two go-ahead layups in the final minutes of play, ended up being the difference to help the Panthers secure a 46-42 victory over the Bulldogs Wednesday night.

“That was just a great feeling,” said Redento, who finished with 12 points in the contest. “A great way to end the first round of conference play.”

Glenbard North (9-7 overall, 4-3 DuKane conference) led by as many as 12 points early on in the game thanks to a hot start both on offense and defense. Sophomore Lamari Carpenter had 10 of his team-high 15 points come from the first half while the defense held the Bulldogs to 7-of-22 shooting from the field early in the game.

“Our defensive intensity was great in that first half,” Glenbard North coach Kevin Tonn said. “We were trying to make things as tough as possible for them. And on offense, we were just doing well playing as a team. We were pretty hard to guard from pretty much everywhere.”

Despite the early struggles, Batavia (6-8, 2-5) did not give up. After entering halftime down 28-18, the Bulldogs went on a 12-2 run in the final five minutes of the third quarter to bring it back to a one-score contest.

“When you get down that much early, you’ve got to play the second half perfectly, and we almost did that,” Batavia coach Jim Nazos said. “But Glenbard North did a lot of things well early on to create that separation early on.

“I think it’s going to happen for us here, we’re going to continue to work to get better. But right now, it’s just a tough loss against a good team.”

The Bulldogs also managed to tie the score multiple times in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get the stop that they needed on defense to give them the chance for the lead – with the Panthers hitting multiple 3-pointers in response before Retendo’s go-ahead lay up with 1:51 left in the contest.

“I was really happy with our composure down the stretch,” Tonn said. “Batavia made some nice 3s, but each time we were able to compose ourselves and respond with scores of our own. And then we did a great job of burning some clock and taking advantage of some mismatches.”

A big reason for the Bulldogs' comeback was senior Jax Abalos getting hot in the second half. The Cornell commit ended up scoring 15 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and also sank five 3-pointers on the night.

“There’s a reason why he’s going to play in the Ivy League next year,” Nazos said. “He’s done that a couple times for us this year. But I think he would’ve taken three less points to get someone else seven more to help us get a win.”