Boock Boosts Broncos Past Saxons
Just days removed from a stellar defensive performance on the road against Cary-Grove, in which Schaumburg prevailed 41-34, the Saxons got a dose of their own medicine Friday night when visiting Barrington handed them their fifth loss of the season, 53-30, to begin MSL West conference play.
The Broncos held the Saxons to 37 percent shooting from the field, and Schaumburg (2-5) shot just 44 percent from the charity stripe (7-for-16), as Barrington improved to 4-1 overall on the year.
"It feels good to get our first conference win," said junior Jason Boock. "Our coaches did a really good job with the scouting report on this team and it gave us a good idea on how to stop them."
The Broncos led from start to finish in this one. They won the opening jump and raced out to a 10-2 first quarter lead just three minutes into the contest thanks to a pair of treys from Miles Lester (game-high 14 points).
But the Saxons countered with an 8-2 run of their own that sliced the deficit to 12-10 with 6:49 to go in the second.
That's when Boock went to work and nailed a wide-open triple to push the lead to 15-10. After a Heze Trotter (11 points) bucket made the score 15-12, Boock drilled another bomb to push the lead to 18-12 with 5:19 left in the half.
"He (Boock) comes off the bench and is instant offense for us," said Broncos head coach Bryan Tucker. "He also creates a lot of space for other guys attacking the rim, so even when he's not getting the ball, he's making everybody else better, he gives us that threat."
Still, the Saxons showed some resolve, as Trotter had a nice steal and dish to Dom Tyler to cut it to 18-14 midway through the second.
With Schaumburg trailing 20-14, Tyler (5 points) canned a 3 of his own to make it a three-point contest, but that's as close as the Saxons would get the rest of the way as the Broncos closed out the half on a 6-2 run, highlighted by a Will Raider steal and layup, to take a 26-19 lead into intermission.
Barrington still led by seven with 2:26 remaining in the third, but then pulled away for good as a Jack Reinhard (4 points) basket, followed by Boock's third from long distance, propelled the visitors to a 37-26. Lester topped it all off with a hoop and a foul to help the Broncos close out the quarter on a 10-1 run for a 42-26 advantage.
The Broncos hit 8 3-pointers as a team and shot 64 percent in the pivotal third quarter.
"We got a run in the second half at just the right time," said Tucker. "The game was pretty tight and then all of a sudden late in the third, we got that little spurt we needed."
From there, the Broncos cruised to a 53-30 win despite all-conference guard, Anthony Spann being held to just 2 points on the night.
"We feel we are pretty deep that if you want to try to take someone away from us on any given night, hey, no worries, someone else will step up," said Tucker.
The Broncos will face Wheeling on the road Tuesday night while the Saxons will square off with Prospect at their place Tuesday in an MSL crossover.
