Boys Basketball: Barrington gets upset by Hoffman Estates
BY CHARLES BERMAN cberman@pioneerlocal.com February 10, 2012 10:58PM
Hoffman Estates' Marcel Curry (5) takes a shot as Barrington's John Schneider (15) defends, Friday, at Hoffman Estates. | Dave Shields~For Suntimes Media.
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Updated: March 17, 2012 8:08AM
With a No. 6-seed in the Zion Benton Regional already locked in, Barrington senior Mark Bennett said the Broncos have already erased the sting of Friday night’s upset loss at Hoffman Estates and are viewing its final four regular season games as a tune-up for the postseason.
In Bennett’s mind, the road to a deep playoff run started Tuesday night when the Broncos (16-8, 7-3) traveled to South Elgin for a nonconference contest.
“We were disappointed but we all wanted to turn it into a positive, learn from it and move on,” Bennett said of the Broncos’ 77-73 overtime loss to the Hawks, who entered the game winless in MSL play.
Although the Broncos didn’t watch the game tape when they returned to practice on Monday, Bennett pledged that the team hasn’t forgotten about the setback.
“You learn from it,” Bennett explained. “You learn the plays we could have made, but I don’t think reliving it would have been beneficial either.”
Despite a 9-0 Hoffman Estates run that eventually turned into a 52-41 Hawks lead with five and half minutes remaining Friday night, Barrington rallied back to force overtime.
It took Bennett and teammates John Schneider, Jackson Wegner, Taylor Ganzer and Brad Zaumseil just two and a half minutes to erase the double-digit deficit as Barrington pulled to a tie at 56-all with three minutes left.
Hoffman Estates’ high-scorer, Austin Terry, fouled out with 32 seconds left in regulation after tallying a game-high 24 points.
But Barrington was still outscored 15-11 in the extra minutes.
“As bad as we played to get down nine, we played that well to stay up,” Broncos coach Bryan Tucker said. “We are still searching for consistency. We aren’t anywhere near that. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot (with) silly turnovers, silly fouls, poor defense ... .It’s tough to win that way.”
“This isn’t something new to us,” added Bennett of the team’s trend of playing dramatic, close games. “But I think that makes it kind of twice as disappointing, the way it turned out.”
In overtime, Hoffman Estates (7-13, 1-8) was sparked by senior Alex Bonds’ six points, which gave him 11 on the night. Junior Connor Schwarz chipped in four in overtime to finished with 12.
“I knew my team would just pull it out, I believe in my teammates. I trust my team,” Terry said after celebrating with his teammates.
“Like I said before, I trusted my team, I trusted the program, I believe in my team and we got the ‘W.’ ”
Zaumseil and Schneider led the Broncos with 19 apiece and Bennett added 16.
As a senior, Bennett said the late-season division loss has re-instilled a sense of urgency in him and the other team leaders.
“We’ve been talking about playing better for four quarters every game,” he said. “We had a decent first half then we lost it in third and fourth. Everyone knows what they could have done differently.”
The focus during the next four games will be to put together 32 minutes of consistent play each night, Bennett said. The playoff opener is Feb. 28 against Lake Zurich.
“It will be a good experience for us,” Bennett said. “I know as a team we have a checklist and we are all working on it so we can make that deep run. We are definitely motivated for a deep run in the playoffs.”
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