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38 | December 6, 2018 | The glenview lantern sports<br />
glenviewlantern.com<br />
Hoo Hoo<br />
is look’n<br />
at you?<br />
NORTH SHORE<br />
mediapodz.com<br />
FIND THE VARSITY: NORTH SHORE ON<br />
SOUNDCLOUD, ITUNES OR <strong>GL</strong>ENVIEWLANTERN.COM/SPORTS<br />
A 22ND CENTURY MEDIA PRODUCTION<br />
EXCLUSIVE<br />
ANALYSIS<br />
AND INTERVIEWS<br />
about your favorite high<br />
school teams. Sports<br />
editors Michal Dwojak<br />
and Michael Wojtychiw<br />
host the only North<br />
Shore sports podcast.<br />
Pieces align for South in<br />
important conference win<br />
Michal Dwojak, Sports Editor<br />
When the final buzzer<br />
rang at the end of Glenbrook<br />
South’s game against<br />
Evanston, it didn’t just<br />
mark the end of a game; it<br />
announced the Titans’ coming-out<br />
party to the rest of<br />
the state.<br />
Students stormed the<br />
court and players sprinted<br />
from the bench, coming together<br />
to not only celebrate<br />
a 61-52 win over the conference<br />
rival Wildkits, but<br />
also recognize the fruition<br />
of a year’s hard work to get<br />
to that point on Thursday,<br />
Nov. 29.<br />
The Titans knew the importance<br />
of this game and<br />
didn’t want to let the opportunity<br />
to slip away.<br />
“We thought this is the<br />
year for us,” Dom Martinelli<br />
said. “We thought this<br />
was the game we needed<br />
to win. This is a next-level<br />
win for us, and I’m proud<br />
of the team.”<br />
Martinelli used a career<br />
night to help lead the Titans<br />
to get that next-level win.<br />
The junior scored a careerhigh<br />
34 points in a night<br />
where the Wildkit players<br />
couldn’t match the Titans’<br />
intensity, or Martinelli’s<br />
performance, at the Titan<br />
Dome.<br />
Martinelli scored 10 of<br />
the team’s 12 points in the<br />
first quarter and 18 of the<br />
team’s 26 points in the first<br />
half.<br />
But all of this was despite<br />
the fact Evanston got GBS<br />
out of its groove. The Wildkits<br />
took the Titans away<br />
from their offense, switching<br />
up their styles for much<br />
of the game. But Martinelli<br />
and his teammates responded,<br />
using screens and<br />
Glenbrook South boys basketball player Will King<br />
defends an Evanston player on Thursday, Nov. 29, in<br />
Glenview. Michal Dwojak/22nd Century Media<br />
impressive passes to take<br />
away from the man-to-man<br />
defense Evanston changed<br />
to in hopes of curbing the<br />
Titans from scoring.<br />
“For us, this is new territory,”<br />
head coach Phil<br />
Ralston said. “We told<br />
the kids, sometimes you<br />
weather the storm against a<br />
good team.”<br />
Evanston continued to<br />
push but the GBS players<br />
would not fall. The Titans<br />
held a five-point lead<br />
before they showed the<br />
maturity needed to finish<br />
big games. Jimmy McMahon<br />
added 15 points, 11 of<br />
which came in the second<br />
half, to bury the Wildkits in<br />
the fourth quarter with critical<br />
3-pointers, taking away<br />
any hopes of a comeback in<br />
the final minutes.<br />
Moments like the win are<br />
what Ralston wanted his<br />
team to grow to. Much of<br />
last year, Ralston spent the<br />
season instilling his values<br />
to his new program, teaching<br />
players what to do in<br />
different situations.<br />
That resulted with plenty<br />
of losses last year. This<br />
year, there was a different<br />
ending.<br />
“We could not have been<br />
in this place last year,”<br />
Ralston said. “Our kids had<br />
Online content<br />
For the photo gallery<br />
and video from<br />
this game, visit<br />
GlenviewLantern.com.<br />
not had the maturity with<br />
the system that we run, and<br />
how we’re going to play to<br />
be able to step into a game<br />
like this and win. This year<br />
they were.”<br />
GBS started the season<br />
5-0 after the opening conference<br />
win and winning<br />
the Buffalo Grove tournament.<br />
Ralston believes his<br />
players have bought into<br />
the system, showing dividends<br />
in games early in the<br />
young season.<br />
While games like the<br />
late-November one against<br />
Evanston are important,<br />
they aren’t what Ralston<br />
and his players want to define<br />
their season.<br />
“Right now everyone’s<br />
going to think that we’re<br />
great; we’re not there yet,”<br />
Ralston said. “We’ve got to<br />
continue to get better, we’ve<br />
got to demand more of ourselves.<br />
We have to continue<br />
to improve. It’s still a young<br />
season, this is a great win,<br />
but if this is the highlight of<br />
our season, then what did<br />
we accomplish?”