Boys Basketball: Morgan Park too much for Glenbrook North

Updated: December 28, 2011 9:59PM

Glenbrook North forward Mark Johnson ended the first quarter with a spectacular circus shot that pulled the Spartans within 14-13 against Morgan Park.

The Spartans never scored at that end again.

Billy Garrett Jr. scored 16 points and dished out six assists and the No. 18 Mustangs shut out the Spartans in the second quarter for the 42-28 quarterfinal victory in the Proviso West tournament Wednesday in Hillside.

The Mustangs advance to play New Trier in Thursday’s semifinals.

Adrian Jeffries scored nine points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Mustangs (7-2).

A day after he shot 6-6 on three-pointers, Glenbrook North guard Jason Markus saw his first one blocked by Joshua Cunningham. It proved emblematic of the harassing Mustangs’ defense that forced the Spartans (9-2) into 1 of 19 shooting from three-point range.

“I have a lot of respect for what coach [Dave] Weber does, and I’ve watched Glenbrook North a lot over the years, and I wanted to make them very uncomfortable in their offense today,” Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin said.

Garrett had nine points and four assists as the Mustangs seized the 24-13 lead at the break.

“I have a lot of trust in my teammates and I was looking for them, especially trying to create for them in transition and off turnovers,” Garrett said.

It marked just the third time in the tournament’s history and the first time since 1992 when Proviso West failed to scored in a quarter.

“They just totally intimated us,” Weber said. “We took bad shots in that quarter. We didn’t run our offense. As you saw, we’re not a good three-point shooting team, but we didn’t get into the lane.

“In the second half, we missed a lot of lay ups because we kept looking back, thinking they were going to block us again,” he said.

Markus’ only three-pointer put the Spartans within 29-23 late in the third quarter. Glenbrook North managed only two baskets in the game’s final nine minutes. Adam Chick scored nine points and Johnson and Kurt Karis contributed seven points each.

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