Evanston Defeats Glenbrook South, 68-54, Splits Season Series
Glenbrook South led Evanston for almost an entire quarter on Saturday at the Titan Dome — the second game of a back-to-back for the teams. But as the final seconds of the period were about to expire, Evanston’s Blake Peters ran down the middle of the lane and got a put back to give Evanston a one-point lead.
It was all Evanston the rest of the way.
The Wildkits only grew their lead as the game went on and would end up defeating the Titans, 68-54, giving Glenbrook South its first loss of the season and, more importantly, splitting the season series with the Titans. The teams are once again tied atop the CSL South standings at 4-1.
Peters had a team-high 28 points for the Wildkits, and junior point guard Rashawn Bost finished second in scoring for Evanston with 13 points.
For Glenbrook South, junior forward Nick Martinelli ended with a game-high 31 points, and fellow junior point guard Cooper Noard was second with 11 points.
The Wildkits started to extend their lead in the second quarter behind Peters’ 11 points. At halftime, the Wildkits had a 34-21 advantage.
Martinelli finished with 15 points at the end of the first two quarters, and only senior small forward Matthew Rosenberger (four points) and junior forward Brandon Ballarinin (two points) made the stat sheet in the first half.
In the third quarter, the Wildkits broke the game open. After Martinelli scored the first points of the second half with a layup, Peters followed that up on the next possession with a 3-pointer in front of the Evanston bench.
Evanston forced a turnover on Glenbrook South’s next offensive possession and Bost completed a three-point play, scoring on a layup and adding a free throw. Shortly after, Bost made a three-pointer to make it a 20-point lead with roughly 4:30 remaining in the third quarter.
Glenbrook South did go on a 6-0 run to make it a 43-29 game with 3:40 left in the quarter, but the Titans couldn’t get it much closer than that. Evanston would go on an 8-2 run to close out the quarter, giving them a 51-31 lead heading into the last eight minutes of play.
Glenbrook South coach Phil Ralston did change up his defense in the fourth, utilizing a zone look, which forced a turnover on the first possession and an Evanston timeout on the next one. But the Wildkits still had firm control and ended up having to shoot free throws to close out the game.
With the victory, Evanston improves to 9-1 on the season and will face Maine West on Monday. After the loss, Glenbrook South is now 11-1 and will host Maine West on Tuesday.