Spartans Advance to Regional Final; Re-Match with Niles North

For the first time in as long as head coach Dave Weber can remember, the Glenbrook North Spartans enjoyed an entire week of practice without any injuries or illnesses. The much-needed preparation paid dividends on Tuesday night in Northbrook as the Spartans eased past No. 12 seed Mather, 77-44 in the IHSA Class 4A regional semifinals. Sophomore Andrew McAuliffe lead four players in double figures with 16 points, while fellow 6-foot-7 forwards Tommy Fernitz and Peter Szostak added 14 and 10 points respectively. Senior guard Tommy Hanrahan finished with 11.

"Tonight was probably our best effort of the year because our guys were more focused. Our guard play was good, our bigs finished inside and I think we played with a lot of intensity," said Weber, whose team shot over 65 percent from the field. "What it is, is that we were finally able to practice,” he added. “Guys had been in and out, everyone was sick or hurt and we were finally able to buckle down this week and work on some things."

Despite the Rangers' quickness and full court pressure, No. 5 seed Glenbrook North (19-8) was able to find the open man all night, collecting 24 assists on 29 made-baskets while using their clear size advantage to dominate the glass, out-rebounding Mather 32-18.

"We were getting the ball inside—me, Peter and Fernitz, and they couldn't stop us," said McAuliffe. "If one of us got going then they'd double or triple team us and someone else would be open and that created opportunities on the boards as well."

Eleven different players scored for the Spartans, who lead by 21 points at halftime and were able to clear their bench midway through the fourth quarter. Ken Murphy led Mather (25-7) with nine points while Bonji Oboh Osinake added six and a team-high five rebounds.

Though the home crowd stood cheering, watching reserves Mitchell Lev, Jake Scholl and Cory Dolins put the finishing touches on the win, the celebrations were short lived. GBN plans to go right back to work on Wednesday in order to prepare for Friday's highly anticipated Regional Final rubber match with CSL Champion and area-ranked Niles North, which defeated Lake Park in the first game of the evening.

"We wanted to take care of Mather, get the win and now we're ready for Niles North," said Hanrahan, who connected on three of six shots from long range. "They're a good team and we know that, but we want revenge."

Weber, however, was quick to downplay the significance of his team's next opponent.

"It has nothing to do with us against them, we just want to go out and win a regional championship," said the coach. "I don't care who we're playing, we want the opportunity to advance to the sectionals, but I do think it will be an exciting night of high school basketball."

Exciting doesn't do the match-up justice. First GBN beat the Vikings at home in December, 77-74, on a last-second three-pointer from Joe Prince. One month later, in Skokie 48-44. Both teams finished with identical 8-2 records in the CSL North, but it was the Vikings that represented the division in the CSL crossover championship last Wednesday (a contest which Niles North won, 62-55, at Evanston). Now the two schools are set to meet again in Northbrook, only this time, it's win or go home.

The Class 4A Regional Championship game is set to tip off at 7:30 p.m., but for those planning on attending, make sure you get to the gym early.