Boys Basketball: Glenbrook North stops Maine East

It did not take Glenbrook North long at the start of the second half Friday night to turn a relatively close contest against Maine East into a runaway victory.

Junior Kurt Karis took advantage of three Blue Demons’ turnovers to score nine straight points and give Glenbrook North a 21-point lead with less than three minutes gone in the half, allowing the Spartans to claim a 75-53 Central Suburban North victory in Park Ridge.

“Coach (Dave) Weber was telling us to play defense, and he always gets on me to play hard, so I did,” Karis said. “That is how we came out with the intensity that we needed to, because we ended the first half on a good run.”

Maine East trailed from the start, but was able to cut a 15-point first-half deficit to 34-28 with 40 seconds left in the second stanza after a basket by freshman Abby George.

Jason Markus (nine points) responded by hitting his only two shot attempts of the half, back-to-back three-pointers in less than eight seconds, including one with one second remaining to give the Spartans a 40-28 lead at intermission.

Senior forward Mark Johnson paced Glenbrook North (13-3, 4-1) early, collecting 15 of his game-high 25 points in the first-half. He knocked down 8 of 9 shots from the field, while also hitting 9 of 11 attempts from the line.

Karis collected four steals and hit 10 of 13 shots, including four straight in the third period, finishing with 22 points. Adam Chick was the other Spartan to click for double figures, totaling 10 points and seven rebounds.

Senior Aaron Shannon knocked down two three-pointers and led the Blue Demons with 13 points. Freshman Ezeke Omeke had six points in the final period to finish with nine points, while Evan Nazzal (nine points) connected on three shots from long distance for Maine East (4-12, 0-5).

“In the first half, I was struggling really bad,” Shannon said. “Coach (Dave Genis) told me at half to just focus and play my game and try to get my teammates involved.”

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