Boys Basketball: Pennsylvania recruit Nik Polonowski, Lyons impressive in blowout win at Glenbard West

GLEN ELLYN – As much as any team, Lyons Township bore witness to Glenbard West’s greatness last season.

The Lions themselves were pretty darn good with 26 wins and a sectional final appearance. But the Hilltoppers cast a huge shadow that Lyons lived in. Glenbard West beat Lyons three times, and two games were not close.

It’s a new season, though, which was apparent Dec. 10.

Nik Polonowski, a 6-foot-6 Pennsylvania recruit, hit four of Lyons’ eight 3-pointers, and the Lions held Glenbard West to only one basket in a 14-minute stretch from midway through the second quarter to the fourth. Lyons made an early statement in the West Suburban Silver with a resounding 57-29 win at Biester Gymnasium.

Jackson Niego scored 18 points and Polonowski had 16 for Lyons (6-0, 2-0), which handed Glenbard West (5-2, 1-1) its first home court loss since Feb. 18, 2020 – also against Lyons. The Hilltoppers had won 27 straight at Biester Gym since, and had won five straight against the Lions over a 12-month span.

This time, Lyons outscored Glenbard West 34-12 in the second half to turn a six-point halftime game into a blowout.

“Going into this I was telling the guys we owe them 60 points from last year,” Polonowski said after emerging from a loud Lyons locker room. “It definitely felt good. We were focused on winning the game rather than blowing them out. But either way it was good.”

Few teams last season could say they were bigger and more physical than Glenbard West. Lyons was clearly so Dec. 10 with Polonowski, 6-5 Yale football recruit Graham Smith, who had six points and nine rebounds, 6-6 Carter Reid and 6-4 Matthew DeSimone.

It allowed Lyons to double Glenbard West on the boards, with the Lions hitting the offensive glass hard in the second half in particular. And it gave the Hilltoppers fits defensively. Glenbard West’s 6-6 Logan Brown, a Haverford commit, was limited to two free throws offensively.

“We are not huge, but we do have good size,” Lyons coach Tom Sloan said. “They’re strong and committed on the defensive end, willing to be physical and don’t back down. Our guys stepped up to the challenge on the defensive end and made tough shots.”

Polonowski, who opened eyes on the recruiting scene over the summer before committing to Pennsylvania, made two of his four threes in the first half while Lyons shot 5-for-11 from the 3-point line against Glenbard West’s matchup zone. DeSimone hit two 3-pointers.

“It started in practice this week. We shot a lot of threes,” Polonowski said. “Coach has been playing against that zone for years now so he knows it. Shot a lot of threes in practice and it translated to the game.”

Still, Glenbard West was right there with Lyons for a quarter and a half of what was at the outset a methodical, low-possession game. A basket by Jack Oberhofer had the Hilltoppers within 18-17 with 3:52 left in the second quarter. But they wouldn’t score again until Oberhofer’s 3-pointer with 3:53 left in the third after a 13-0 Lyons run, and that was the Hilltoppers’ only basket in a 14-minute stretch until two minutes into the fourth quarter.

“It was difficult,” Glenbard West coach Jason Opoka said. “That is the West Suburban Silver. We know what we are getting ourselves into. They played a tough, physical game and it took us out of our rhythm. We struggled to score in the second half, which led to their transition which opened the floodgates.”

Niego had a big hand in that transition game, scoring eight of his 18 points in the third quarter to break the game open.

“The foundation of our team is defense,” Niego said. “You have to get tough and get dirty and grind. It translated over into the second half. They wore down, they got kind of impatient and we just defended. We had a great scout of who can shoot and who can’t. Even if a kid couldn’t shoot, we wanted to give them the impression that we were there.”

Luuk Dusek scored a team-high nine points for Glenbard West, all in the first half.

“We will get better and forget about this one,” Opoka said. “We have a lot of games ahead of us.”