Barrington Boys Defeat Mt. Hope in Basketball Tournament

The Barrington High School boys jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first half and then coasted to a 59-45 win over Mt. Hope in what turned into a hard-fought game Thursday night.

The Eagles were up 19-9 about halfway through the first half but then saw the Huskies hang tough and actually slice the lead to 9 points at the half, 31-22. But a 12-3 run to start the second half boosted the lead to 18 points with about 9 minutes to play in the game, effectively ending it.

Mt. Hope scrapped and clawed the rest of the game, though, and actually outscored the Eagles over the final 9 minutes as both benches were cleared.

“We worked hard,” said Huskies head coach Mike Topazio, “and we hung in there with two of our starters out and three of our top seven players.”

The Huskies’ lineup lacked the height to match up with Barrington, he said.

“You can only do so much without size out there,” he said.

Topazio got good shooting performances from two of his guards to help make up for the lack of height. Senior Michael Head scored 17 points, including three 3-point field goals, and sophomore Matt Scott added 12 points, including two 3-pointers.

Barrington had too many weapons and never was threatened despite scrappy play. Head coach Patrick Sullivan said: “It was a good game. Defensively we played sound. We contested most of their shots. They played well.”

“We did what we had to do to win,” Sullivan said. “We did everything we wanted to do.”

That included cutting down on turnovers, which doomed the Eagles against Holy Name Central Catholic in their first game in the tourney.

Ben Engvall led the Eagles in scoring again with 18 points, including two 3-pointers. He got plenty of help from freshman point guard Corey Daugherty, who scored 12 points; and sophomore center Nick Raymond, who chipped in 11, specially in the early going.

Engvall and Head were named to the all-tournament team after the game.