Barrington came into Friday’s game with Conant having lost their last two games, as well as senior forward Chris Lester to an ankle injury suffered in Thursday’s practice.
The Broncos weathered the storm by winning the Mid-Suburban West game Conant 39-35. The victory snapped Conant’s nine-game win streak and avenged Barrington’s 48-45 loss to the Cougars last week, in which Lester scored 18 points.
Ben Weber sank all six of his free throws in the fourth quarter as the Broncos took their first lead since early in the first, and finished with a game-high 12 points.
“It’s great having the confidence of the coach behind you expecting you to make it,” Weber said, “and with your teammates cheering you on, it makes it even better.”
Barrington (15-6, 5-2) took the lead for good on a pair of free throws from Tristen Becker with 3 minutes, 47 seconds remaining, and held on as Conant (13-8, 4-3) missed a pair of 3-pointers in the final seconds.
“We had a tough couple days last week with Conant, Palatine, and we were right there in both of those games,” Barrington coach Bryan Tucker said. “It says a lot about these kids tonight coming out and missing Chris Lester and it’s like we didn’t even miss a beat.”
Rapolas Ivanauskas, Barrington’s standout junior forward, finished with nine points and seven rebounds, but did not score in the fourth.A
Player of the game: Ben Weber, Barrington 12 points, 3 assists.
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Key performers: Barrington — Tristen Becker, 11 points; Rapolas Ivanauskas, 9 points, 7 rebounds. Conant — Daniel Sotos, 9 points.