Barrington continues to have Hoffman Estates' number
A week ago Barrington and Hoffman Estates boys basketball teams met for third place at Jacobs High School. Barrington came away with a hard fought 55-48 win at the Hinkle Holiday Classic, and Estates was hoping to turn the table Friday night.
Not to be, as the Broncos used a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to pull away and beat the Hawks 61-48 in Mid-Suburban North play.
Senior guard Donovan Nichols of Barrington scored nine of his season-high 22 points during the run.
"We had a nice response to their run at us in the third quarter," said Nichols. "They came out in the second half and took it to us a little bit. It was great to be back home and play in front of a large crowd."
Alec Schmidts, who scored 20 points and pulled down 10 rebounds, helped get the 12-1, 4-0 Broncos off to a good start.
The 6-foot 4 junior hit three 3-point baskets in helping the Broncos to a 17-8 lead after one quarter.
"You want to start the game blazing and with high energy," said Schmidts. "On defense I had to stop (D.J.) Wallace from getting touches inside. I give a lot of credit to my teammates for the help-side defense."
"We have players who can score and Alec and Donovan are two of them," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker. "In the first half we moved the ball and ourselves very well. In the second half we looked a little bogged down and a little unsure of ourselves."
A good reason for that was the play of Wallace.
Scoreless in the first half, Wallace picked up two fouls early on and was forced to the bench.
Trailing 30-21 at halftime, the Hawks (8-8, 0-4) - behind Wallace who scored 7 of his team-high 15 points - began to narrow the gap and trailed 38-35 at the end of the quarter.
Wallace's 3-point basket with 6:12 left in the game cut the lead to 41-39.
Nichols then connected on two 3-point baskets which was followed by Dillon Schmidt's (8 points) basket off a turnover and the Hawks could not recover.
"It was a two-point game, and we got a nice run at the right time," said Tucker. "When Doovan hit the 3-pointer with 3:03 left it made the score 57-41 and that nailed it."
"We lost track of Nichols on those two 3-pointers," said Hoffman Estates coach Peter McBride. "It was a close game and they got hot over that 3-minute span. We came out flat to start the game. I like the way we responded in the third quarter to make a game of it."
Jacob Mirsch and Trendell Whiting each scored 10 points for the Hawks.