Oliver Gray, Barrington pull away from Jacobs

ALGONQUIN – Barrington’s Adam Baird and Oliver Gray have been sharing the court as basketball teammates for almost 10 years.

So was it any wonder when the two Broncos took over Monday’s Hinkle Holiday Classic game against host Jacobs in the second half, Baird feeding Gray, Gray feeding Baird, the two displaying their athleticism and chemistry, their teammates feeding off the energy? The performances by Baird and Gray and a complete team effort helped Barrington pull away en route to a 67-44 win on Day 2 of the four-day tournament.

Gray scored 15 of his game-high 22 points after halftime, while Baird had six of his 10, as Barrington (6-3, 2-0 tourney) outscored Jacobs (7-3, 1-1) 42-19. Baird, a 6-foot-3 senior guard and three-year varsity player, also had six rebounds and five steals.

Gray, a 6-6 junior wing who’s played on varsity since he was a freshman, drained four 3-pointers and threw down his second two-handed dunk in as many games at Jacobs.

“I’m spoiled as a coach to have both of them,” said coach Bryan Tucker, whose Broncos next play Waubonsie Valley at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the winners bracket. “People don’t realize how much [Baird] does for this team. He plays both sides of the ball, runs our offense, guards, and he can score.”

Baird guarded Ben Jurzak, who scored his 1,000th career point this month. The long-range shooting Jurzak hit two 3s, including one late in the first half that helped the Golden Eagles go into halftime tied at 25. But the senior didn’t score in the second half, finishing with eight points.

“That was my job to shut him down, and I tried my best,” Baird said. “He’s a good player. ... I just focused on taking away his 3 first, and then playing him straight up after that.”

Gray has seen the defensive prowess of Baird since the two were kids.

“Adam was just always a lock-down defender,” Gray said. “That’s what he does well. He can defend pretty much anyone really well.”

Gray scored seven points in the second quarter but none in the second half, as Jacobs did well denying him shots. Jordan O’Connor, a 6-3 rangy senior, defended Gray.

“He can score at all levels [on the court], he can go right, he can go left,” O’Connor said. “He was hitting a bunch of tough shots. We were helping, at least two on one, but he’s just a really good player, one of the best we’ve played against. He’s a tough scout.”

“We did a really good job on him [in the first half],” Jacobs coach Jimmy Roberts said of Gray. “Then he got away.”

Gray opened the second-half scoring with a 3-pointer, igniting a 15-4 run that put Barrington in control for good. The flurry included Gray feeding Baird for a layup, Baird making a steal and dishing to Gray for a layup in transition and Baird finishing a layup after his steal.

Jacobs got 3-pointers from Carson Goehring and Nolan Roper to get within 42-35 entering the fourth, but Barrington kept coming. Gray hit back-to-back 3s, both off passes from Baird, and the Broncos' lead was 54-38 with less than five minutes remaining.

“I’m always looking for him,” Baird said. “I trust him to make the shots.”

“We were just really flowing there, and we both really wanted to win that game,” said Gray, whose dunk with about three minutes left punctuated the win. “I think it was our will to win that helped us win that game.”

Bruce LeBlanc (13 points, five rebounds) and Chris Tacher (12 points, two 3s) also scored in double figures for Barrington. Tacher had seven points, including a 3, in the fourth.

Samson Averehi and Emaan Thomas scored 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Jacobs, which plays Cary-Grove at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Roper finished with nine points on three 3s.

“We just weren’t executing well [in the second half],” O’Connor said. “They pressured much more, and we just couldn’t really handle it. We tried to get in our stuff. None of it was really working for us.”