Boys Basketball: Win Streak Snapped at Proviso

You could blame it on the ten-day holiday layoff as easily as you could blame it on the hour-and-ten minute delay due to a leak in the roof, but Glenbrook North head coach David Weber is not making any excuses for his team's first loss of the year. The Spartans fell 55-45 to Morton in the first round of the 50th Annual Proviso West Holiday Tournament Monday.

"We just didn't play with a lot of energy," said a frustrated Weber. "You've got to come to Proviso West and play with enthusiasm and we just didn't show that today."

Glenbrook North (8-1) led by a point at the end of the first quarter and extended its lead to 16-13 early in the second, but Morton gained control of the ballgame on the strength of an 11-2 run and didn't look back. The Mustangs never trailed after grabbing an 18-16 lead on a Jeff Jarosz (13 points, 7 assists) layup with 6:17 remaining before halftime.

Things got interesting in the second half as the Spartans closed the third quarter on a 6-0 run. Tommy Hanrahan drained a three-pointer and Jordan Liss hit three free throws after being fouled at the buzzer. As the fourth quarter got underway, sophomore (11 points, 11 rebounds) tied the game at 39 by hitting the first of two free throws, then following his second shot with a strong put-back in traffic.

Morton (9-2) again grabbed the lead as Jarosz and Rocco Belcaster (18 points, 3 steals) combined to hit five of six free throws, but Hanrahan answered right back for the Spartans, drilling his third three-pointer of the game to pull even at 45. Unfortunately, that's where it ended for the Spartans, who committed costly turnovers and were held scoreless over the final 4:08 of the contest.

"Our inside guys couldn't make a layup and our guards were shaky on the perimeter," Weber added. "They left the middle open in their zone, but we couldn't make a play. They're the best team we've played all year."

Without much time to dwell on the loss, Glenbrook North will turn around and head back to Hillside tomorrow for a 10:30 a.m. meeting with St. Joseph, which lost to Hillcrest 51-43 in the final game of the morning session.

"The hardest part is getting back up," said Andrew McAuliffe. "I think it's good that we have to get back on the court tomorrow morning, though, because we need to recover from this."

Glenbrook North was out-rebounded by the more athletic, yet smaller Mustangs and committed 21 turnovers in the loss; Hanrahan lead the Spartans with 13 points and 4 assists.