Boys Basketball: Glenbrook North hangs on to top Maine West

Updated: January 10, 2012 10:41PM

The home-standing Warriors of Maine West had all the momentum. They had erased a Glenbrook North lead and opened up a 29-24 third quarter lead.

And then all heck broke loose. The shortest player on the court, Jason Markus, was bleeding slightly, and certainly angry. Plus he was given a technical foul for the skirmish that broke out.

When cooler heads prevailed, GBN (12-3) went on a 23-4 run to put this contest away 54-42 Tuesday.

Markus hit three three-pointers for his nine points.

“My teammates have my back,’’ Markus said. “Coach told us that momentum changed after that. That was a turning point. We were a little down before that.”

Maine West didn’t fold after the court trouble and in fact seemed to grab momentum back when senior guard, Conor Hart, all six feet two of him, dunked the basketball pulling his team back to within a single point at 32-31.

“Hart is hard to guard,’’ said Glenbrook North coach Dave Weber. “He’s good one-on-one.”

The fourth quarter was not good for the home team. By the time Hart (18 points) dropped in two free throws nearly five minutes had gone by and now the Warriors were down by double digits. In fact it looked like no one but

Hart would score for Maine West. His personal eight-point run ended in the final minute.

This CSL North game began with two Hart buckets. And then the Spartans went on a 14-1 run aided by back to back three-pointers from Markus. Glenbrook North played without the services of 6-foot-8 Andrew McAuliffe, Zach Hamer and Mitchell Lev. Weber had to make some moves and it sure helped that senior Adam Chick (19 points) was on for the Spartans. Mark Johnson, a 6-6 forward, gave the Spartans a strong second half and finished with 10

points.

Maine West had a strong first half from senior guard Kevin Garcia (nine points). His floater late in the first half pulled his Warriors within a single point. His final basket of the night gave his club a 29-24 lead late

in the third quarter. And then tempers flared.

“I’m not sure what happened there,’’ Weber said. “But in changed the game.”

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