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glenviewlantern.com sports
the glenview lantern | December 28, 2017 | 29
Boys Basketball
Titans lose nail-biter to undefeated Trevians
Fouad Egbaria
Freelance Reporter
If someone looked at
their records alone, you
might have thought undefeated
Trevian’s matchup
against Glenbrook South
would not be close.
That thought would be
wrong.
Leading by one in the final
minute and looking to
get to the free-throw line,
New Trier turned the ball
over, giving the scrappy
Titans a shot to win with
10 seconds left. Glenbrook
South’s final attempt,
however, fell well off the
mark, and New Trier (7-
0) survived for a 43-42
victory over the Titans (3-
7) Thursday, Dec. 21, in
Glenview.
New Trier senior Andrew
Kirkpatrick, a threeyear
varsity player, went
scoreless in the first half
but connected when it
counted most.
The senior buried a three
to tie the game halfway
through the fourth quarter
and a two to give New Trier
a three-point lead with
90 seconds remaining.
“I don’t think it’s on me
— all the guys on our team
can [hit shots late],” Kirkpatrick
said. “I had open
shots and I made them.”
Senior Griffin Ryan tallied
a team-high 11 points
for the Trevians, who last
played Dec. 11. New Trier
coach Scott Fricke said
several players had been
fighting illness in the last
week, including Kirkpatrick.
“I’ll tell you what, he’s
not afraid,” Fricke said of
Kirkpatrick, who tallied
seven of his nine points in
the fourth quarter.
New Trier jumped out
Glenbrook South’s Dom Martinelli goes hard to the basket against New Trier in a 43-
42 loss Thursday, Dec. 21, in Glenview. Photos by Carlos alvarez/22nd Century Media
South’s Stevon Boyd draws a foul.
to an early 8-3 lead, which
proved to be the largest
lead either team would
hold. The Titans fought
back, holding New Trier
to just nine more first-half
points en route to a 20-17
lead at the break.
New Trier big men
Spencer Boehm and Ciaran
Brayboy each picked
up two first-half fouls,
with Boehm picking up a
second four minutes into
the game.
“We were fortunate to
be down three at halftime,”
Fricke said. “Our shooters
were getting some good
looks and they just weren’t
falling.”
The Titans forced their
Central Suburban League
South foe to make shots
from the outside by packing
the paint and devoting
three players to checking
Brayboy down low.
“I think we were 1-of-
15 from three in the first
half,” Fricke said. “That’s
not us. We’re a good threepoint
shooting team. We
missed some and put our
heads down.”
Glenbrook South coach
Phil Ralston, in his first
year at South after nine
years at Geneva, praised
his squad’s execution of
the defensive game plan.
“The kids stuck to the
game plan and that gave
us a shot in the game,”
Ralston said. “We knew
that we had to close down
the passing lanes for highlow
action with their bigs,
and I thought we did a
fantastic job of covering
Brayboy and not giving
them any kind of passing
lanes to be able to get him
the ball.”
When Brayboy wasn’t
struggling with foul trouble,
he offered the Trevians
strong rim protection,
but the junior was held
scoreless on the night.
“For our kids, we told
them we needed to be
grunts today,” Ralston
added. “We needed to
muck up the game a little
bit and make sure if they
were going to beat us they
were going to have to
prove it from the outside.”
On the offensive end,
Glenbrook South junior
guard Max Hubbard led
the way with 10 points,
while fellow junior guard
Jimmy McMahon added
nine points.
The Titans started one
senior to New Trier’s
three. Despite the Titans’
relative inexperience, they
have picked up Ralston’s
system quickly.
“This is a team that
if you looked at us four
weeks ago you would say
that this is not the same
team,” Ralston said. “We
showed a level of patience
that I’m not sure I was convinced
we were capable of
tonight.”
Despite taking a lead
into halftime, the second
quarter was a missed opportunity
for the Titans.
With Boehm on the bench
and Brayboy picking up
his second foul in the second
quarter, the Titans
managed to shoot just
4-of-10 from the field.
“You look at what happened
in the outcome of
the game but I’m looking at
that second quarter where I
felt like we could have really
exploited having their
bigs sit with foul trouble,”
Ralston said. “We got the
lead but we didn’t really
push it to where I think it
could have gone.”
Fricke offered praise for
Glenbrook South’s talent.
“They got off to a
rough start [this season],
probably because of the
transition with learning
new stuff,” he said. “But
they’re going to be a good
team.”
Both squads now have
six days to prepare for
holiday tournament action.
The Trevians will head
to the Proviso West Holiday
Tournament, while
South will compete in
the 40th annual Wheeling
Hardwood Classic.
The Wheeling tournament
field will be a great
challenge for the Titans,
Ralston said.
“We’re getting ready for
final exams coming back
after the New Year,” said
Ralston, who teaches English.
“I look at these tournaments
as kind of like a
final exam. It’s like a firstsemester
final. How are we
going to do? I don’t know,
we’ll have to see.”