Broncos Lose Consolation Championship Game in Overtime

Lake Zurich senior Jeff O’Brien had just one job in Friday, Dec. 23’s consolation match at the Jacobs Holiday Classic.

“My main thing was to shut down Brad Zaumseil,” the Bear’s forward said of Barrington’s junior point guard. “He’s probably (Barrington’s) best player and it helped to see him on the bench and give me a break during overtime.”

O’Brien (13 points), who also hit Lake Zurich’s only made 3-pointer of the game to give the Bears a 47-44 lead, didn’t quite shut down Zaumseil, but he did enough in Lake Zurich’s 55-51 victory.

The Holiday Classic decided fifth place of the 16 participants in the showdown of area basketball to end the year.

Barrington’s all-tournament guard scored only 12 points in the contest, yet he did so much more on both ends of the floor as he added multiple assists to teammates, had several rebounds, and chipped in a couple of steals. Unfortunately, the guard spent overtime watching from the bench after collecting his fifth foul with just three minutes left in the game.

“It was hard to sit there and watch” Zaumseil said of his predicament.

“These guys are luxuries to have,” Barrington senior forward Mark Bennett said of having both senior center John Schneider (out with finger injury) and Zaumseil on the bench for the overtime session.

Bennett led all scorers with 19 points and cut the Bear’s lead to 49-46 by making a pair of free throws in overtime. Bennett scored four of Barrington’s points in the extra period and all were scored on free throws.

The Bears (8-6, 4-1 in tournament), which only had two made field goals during the fourth quarter and overtime, relied heavily on free throws and went 15 of 20 in that stretch. Lake Zurich ended the night hitting 24 of 29 from the free stripe, while Barrington was just 7 of 10 for the contest.

“We had to overcome 29 free throws, and that is tough,” Barrington’s head coach Bryan Tucker said after the game. “It was tough to not be able to match the physical play of Lake Zurich.”

“Then we had our point guard, a kid that is all-tournament, foul out and that was big,” he went on to say. “I called a timeout because it looked like the body language of the other players seemed to change.”

Barrington (10-5, 3-2 in Jacob’s tournament) and Lake Zurich saw 12 ties and/or lead changes (nine in the third quarter and fourth quarter) during the contest, but none in overtime as the Bears pulled away with each made free throw.

“Lake Zurich just got a jump on us in overtime and we couldn’t overcome it,” said Bennett who also noticed a change in Barrington’s energy. “We played great defense and were really clicking for four quarters.”

Bennett sees the upcoming break for Broncos as a good thing, not only to deal with potential lingering injuries and fatigue from a grueling week at the holiday classic, but also to deal with what the New Year brings with it.

“Schneider will be back after the break, and I’m excited about that.”

Barrington will be back in action Tuesday, Jan. 3, for a conference crossover match at Rolling Meadows. The tip-off is at 7:30 p.m.