by Trojan Athletics posted 01/28/2010 
By KEN O'BRIEN For Sun-Times Media
There was no championship or trophy on the line, but the sparse crowd got their money's worth as Downers Grove North battled host Glenbard West in a hard-fought 55-54 West Suburban Silver victory Jan. 22 in Glen Ellyn.
"We had our opportunities at the end, but the shots just fell short." said Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder. "But I am proud of how our kids battled back from being down the second half."
The Hilltoppers (2-15), who remain in the hunt for their first league win, started off strong with two 3-pointers from Matt Mache (13 points) and a 8-0 lead. Downers Grove North on the other hand found a lid on its basket going 0-of-7 from the floor for the first eight minutes.
"We go 0-of-7 from the field, but we were not playing any defense as well," said Trojans coach James Thomas. "But after we got through that first timeout, we talked about who we were pressuring, what our matchups were and I thought we did a better job of executing our defensive philosophy for the rest of the night"
Late in the quarter, Downers Grove North (6-12, 2-5) closed the gap to 10-6 with a 3-pointer from Eric Jagielo (seven points) at the 1:41 mark. Then another long range 3 with one second remaining off the hands of Nick LeBeau (20 points), gave the Trojans their first lead of the game 11-10 as the opening period came to an end.
Glenbard West took a 16-13 lead at 6:45 of the second with a Tyler Warden (16 points) jumper and free throw. Then Downers Grove North tied it up 16-all one minute later with a steal and a D.J. Cienawa (10 points) layup.
Then LeBeau connected on his second 3-pointer of the half and a 22-20 Trojans' advantage with 4:04 remaining.
Downers Grove North continued to have the hot hand from beyond the circle as Tom Wengren hit a long range 3-pointer with four seconds left, giving his team a 29-23 halftime lead.
Third-quarter action saw the Trojans pick up right where they left off, hitting four 3-pointers in the first two minutes with LeBeau contributing on three of them. The long range shooting gave the Trojans a 41-25 advantage with 4:52 remaining.
"Nick has been out for about a week so it was nice to see him contribute," Thomas said. "He likes to shoot them when he is open and he found the bottom of the net a few times for us tonight."
Two Warden buckets down low in the paint closed the Downers Grove North lead to 41-37 with just over a minute to play. Then a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer from Jack Marston pulled the Hilltoppers to within five, 44-39, to start the final quarter.
"We were able to Tyler some open looks with some curls which helped us get back in it in the third," Hoder said. "But then he got in fouls trouble late, but some of the other kids stepped in to pick it up for us in the fourth which was nice."
Glenbard West gave it a valiant effort as the fourth quarter got under way.
Marston dropped a 3-pointer at 5:20, pulling the Hilltoppers to within four 48-44. Another Mache 3 cut the lead to one, 50-49, at 3:16 of the fourth. Then Tom Schutt tied everything up a 52-all with just 22 seconds left letting Downers Grove North they had a game on their hands.
"We hung in there tonight and played with some intensity down the stretch," Hoder said. "We need to put together a full game of that and we will get better."
But it was clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch for Downers Grove North that put the game away, as the Trojans were 3-of-3 from the charity stripe in the final 10 seconds to hang on for the win.
"Free-throw shooting has been something we have been talking about a lot lately," Thomas said. "With a young team it can be difficult to make those at the end of the game, but the more times you put yourself in those situations the better off you will be and we did that tonight."
Downers Grove North stayed on the road for another league game the following night, but fell 59-39 to York.
The team is off until they host Hinsdale Central on Feb. 5 followed by the crosstown showdown at Downers Grove South the following night. Both games are at 7:30 p.m.
The DGN Booster Club is an all volunteer organization. Most members are parents of DGN student athletes. Our sole purpose is to financially (and emotionally) support roughly 1,000 DGN student athletes. We are a non-profit organization that raises money through various activities The booster club helps provide the best athletic facilities and equipment that are available.
Dear Business Owner:
