Warriors rebound from Friday's loss

Willowbrook center Milton Colbert's face broke into a smile when asked about how much big guys like rebounding.

"Yeah, I like rebounding," Colbert said. "Especially when I grab them one-handed, that's fun."

Colbert got either or both hands on 5 rebounds Saturday night, just one contributor in a huge rebounding edge that helped key the Warriors to a 47-41 nonconference win over host Glenbard East.

"The whole second half all came down to rebounding," Glenbard East coach Scott Miller said. "That's what we told our kids. Rebounding out of our (man-to-man defense). Rebounding out of our zone and rebounding off free throws. We didn't do any of them. They outrebounded us and that was completely the difference in the game."

Willowbrook (4-2) had a 40-24 rebounding edge on the Rams (3-2). The second-half numbers were extreme -- 22-10 in the Warriors' favor.

"That's been a trend this year," Willowbrook coach Tim Lavorato said. "We've really been outrebounding people. Something we really focus on is getting off on the offensive glass. The kids have really taken off with it."

Joe Flood was the night's big rebounder. He had 9 boards to go with 9 points for the Warriors.

Willowbrook knocked Glenbard East to an 11-2 deficit after the first quarter.

"I thought early on they came out and were on the verge of blowing us out," Milller said. "We were able to regroup, shift into a zone and that kept us in it. We battled, but we just didn't get it done on the glass in the second half."

Derek Stanback took over at that point for the Rams. He scored 10 of his team's 16 second-quarter points as the hosts made up the deficit and only trailed 21-20 at halftime.

"(Stanback) played a great game," Miller said. "He was active on both ends of the floor and that's what you want out of your senior guys."

The third quarter was the most even of the game, marked by five ties. Colbert began to take charge and scored 8 of his game-high 19 points in that period.

Willowbrook's fourth quarter helped ease some of the pain of Friday's overtime loss to Downers Grove South.

"You've got to learn how to win," Lavorato said. "You try hard to simulate those game situations. But there's no way you can. We go two nights in a row in big games with nice crowds. We don't finish (Friday) night, but we finished tonight."

Lavorato classed Friday's loss as one of the toughest he's had to endure as a head coach.

"Say what you want about learning from losses," he said. "You learn from wins (too.) I'd rather learn winning."