Broncos Kickoff March Madness with Win

The Wildcat's coach, Scott Bogumil, summed it up perfectly post-game.

“[Barrington] is solid and can finish; they have a good starting five that feed well off each other,” Bogumil said. “And then they bring in a couple more guys.”

One of those “guys” coach Bogumil was referring to was Barrington's senior forward Lukas Osmundsen. Osmundsen came off the bench and recorded a double-double by pouring in a team high fourteen points and 10 rebounds and capped off his night by scoring the final basket in Barrington's 53-41 opening round regional win.

"[Osmundsen] was very physical and a nice match-up tonight; he gave us a spark," Barrington's coach Bryan Tucker said.  "He was rebounding and finishing with the ball."

"One thing kept us in the game that first half, rebounding," Tucker went on to say.  "We were stagnate and taking some bad shots, and Lukas was going and getting [the rebounds]."

Osmundsen found the scoreboard early in the second quarter, when Barrington (19-10) was already down 10-5, and would score eight during the frame to help the Broncos claw back into the game against the Wildcats (12-16), entering halftime tied at 17. Osmundsen's 14 points was one point shy of tying his season high, 15 against Jacobs earlier in the season.

"My role varies from game to game, but one thing coach is big on is boxing out and rebounding," Osmundsen said of his coach's expectations for him as a reserve.  "I'm fine with coming off the bench, especially when we win." 

Quick consecutive field goals by senior guard Ryan Barth (scored a game high 16 points) ended Libertyville's 7-4 run to start the third period that gave the Cats a 24-21 lead and looked to building momentum. 

But moments later, Barrington's junior forward John Schneider would lose the player responsible for guarding him behind the three point line and Schneider would sink a long three to tie the game at 24.

"[Schneider] hit that shot and then you could just see his confidence soar," said Tucker.  "But he did a great job defending in the paint and he was going to get some really good rebounds too."

Schneider would end the night hitting a total of three-three pointers on his way to recording Barrington's other double-double with 13 points (all scored in the second half) and lead the team with 12 rebounds.

The Broncos were very physical on the boards and won the crucial rebounding battle 43 (19 offensive rebounds) to 24 and was one of the key reasons that Barrington would be able to pull away in the game.  Schneider's third period offensive performance (10 points in the frame), and his defensive pressure helped the Bronco's push ahead on a 14-5 run to end the third quarter which saw Barrington leading 38-29.  A lead they wouldn't relinquish again.

The Wildcats, with the home crowd cheering behind them, would attempt a comeback with an 8-4 run during the fourth but would be unable to capitalize on some of the free opportunities with the clock stopped and missed some much needed free-throws. Libertyville shot six of 12 during the quarter and finished 10 of 18 for the game.

"We were down six and we missed 4 free-throws in a row; that really hurt," Libertyville's Bogumil said.  "Making those free-throws may have changed the complexity of the game."

Barrington would also struggle from the free stripe and managed only 14 of 28 for the night (eight of 16 in the fourth).

"Every now and then we have a night like this," Tucker said of the 50 percent free-throw average.  "We're not going to get hung up on that because we know we got kids who can knock them down."

Barrington's sophomore guard Brad Zaumseil would finish five of eight from the free-throw line and ended the night with 10 points, the third Bronco to score in double digits for the game and nearly missed recording his own double-double when he fell a rebound short. 

While leading 42-37, Barrington would end the game on an 11-4 run securing the Broncos 53-41 win to officially open the 4A IHSA state tournament.

"[Libertyville] is a talented team playing on emotion," Coach Tucker said of the Broncos win.  "They just won an emotional game (against Palatine to advance) and on top of that we were playing in their house."

The Broncos next game will be Friday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Libertyville. Playing for the regional championship, Barrington will face the winner of Wednesday's match-up between the sixth seed in the sectional pool Buffalo Grove and the 11^th ranked Highland Park Warriors.