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Sports

GBS Boys' Basketball: Titans Fall on Senior Night, Look Towards Playoffs

Maine West rallied in the second half to send Glenbrook South to its sixth straight loss.

’s final regular-season game was a microcosm of their entire year: a good start, a bad finish and another tough loss to swallow.

This one came on Senior Night against Maine West in a CSL crossover game as the Titans honored its nine seniors before Tuesday night’s matchup.

After holding a one-point lead at halftime, Glenbrook South’s rebounding and turnover woes continued and Maine West pulled away for a 62-52 victory.

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“It seemed like at the start we had a hop in our step a little bit and we were clearing some first rebounds,” Glenbrook South coach Scott Nemecek said. “But as time wore on, our defense doesn’t seem to produce us anything. There were times during the season where we could kind of rely on our defense.”

Nemecek put five of his seniors in the starting lineup and guard Tom Wattley was the one who provided an opening spark. He scored the team’s first seven points and Glenbrook South got out to a 15-9 lead in the first quarter.

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With less than four seconds to play in the half, Emmett Turner-Jackson beat his defender off the dribble and swishes a running three-pointer from just beyond half-court to beat the buzzer. The long trey cut Glenbrook South’s lead to one point at the half and seemed to shift momentum.

Maine West started the third quarter with a quick 7-0 run as Conor Hart got inside for two straight Warrior layups. But after a 30-second timeout, the Titans countered with their own 7-0 spurt to go ahead 32-31 midway through the third quarter.

“We have to take really smart shots from now on,” Glenbrook South senior guard Brett Gold said. “We had the lead and then we start forcing bad shots and start letting them score and that’s how we’ve been losing all season.”

That would be the last time the Titans would lead as Maine West’s defense started to dig in. Center Odera Eneogwe’s size and athleticism bothered Glenbrook South inside and the Warriors built a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.

Even in the midst of one of the program’s worse seasons, Nemecek paid tribute to the senior class, saying he and his assistant coaches looked forward to working with them in practice every day.

“They are an absolutely great group of guys. Are we a little disappointed right now with some basketball things? Absolutely,” Nemecek said. “But I take just as much responsibility on that as I am putting it on them.”

Glenbrook South will face Schaumburg in an IHSA Class 4A Evanston Regional on Monday at Evanston Township High School. The winner of that game gets Evanston in the semi-finals.

“This season’s been somewhat of a disappointment,” Gold said. “But we’re not going to let Jack [Ryan] and Corey [McMahon] go out this way. We’re going to take it Schaumburg and Evanston and New Trier hopefully in the regional.”

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