Parham Perspective: Glenbrook South vs Niles North

<p>In what was my first game of the IHSA high school season to catch Niles North vs Glenbrook South was an entertaining game. At the start it had a few lead changes and some fun back and forth matchups on the court. GBS would pull away in the second half to win the game by double digits 76-56. Here were the standout players from this Tuesday night matchup. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Glenbrook South</u></strong></p> <p><strong>Matthew Rosenberger 6’4 2021 F</strong></p> <p>Rosenberger had a pretty good night scoring. He started off with a three pointer and then he found ways to score out of the half court set that Glenbrook ran throughout the game. Matthew was pretty active on both sides most of the night. He anticipated the passing lanes well as he stole three passes that he converted into points in transition. Rosenberger is that glue guy who doesn’t have just one thing he’s good at as you can sort of plug him anywhere on the court and he can make a play for you. Matthew finished with 18 points.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="925190" first="Cooper" last="Noard"] 2022 5’11 PG </strong></p> <p>Cooper had a solid night as well as he dueled with fellow 2022 poing guard Oliff. Noard struggled early on with a couple of deep three pointers that seemed to be off the mark by a couple of inches. He countered the misses with strong straight lined drives to the rim and making a few and-1 opportunities.  In the second half Noard saw the ball go through the rim a few times from three before finishing up with 16 points. Cooper is a heady guard that can be a facilitator or a scorer depending on the game and situation.  He definitely figured out how to be more effective in this contest. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="925224" first="Nick" last="Martinelli"] 2022 6’6  F</strong></p> <p>I’m often accused of being Martinelli biggest fan by our senior writer Scott Burgess, but after watching him play how can you not be. Nick just finds ways to score around the rim. Tonight he had a tough task but again he found a way. Martinelli used two and sometimes three attempts to score after some point blank misses. Nick has great read and reaction off his own missed shots and usually never comes out of a possession without a score or a trip to the free throw line. One of the better plays was when he would catch the ball right inside the three point line with two defenders draped on him Martinelli would spin baseline around both guys and just score over the top of both defenders.  Nick was the leading scorer in the game with 26 points and he collected a handful of rebounds in the process. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><u>Niles North </u></strong></p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="821747" first="Jalen" last="Butler"] 2021 6’6  F</strong></p> <p>Butler had his hands full with the matchup against Martinelli but he definitely met the challenge.  Jalen who just recently committed to play Football/Basketball at Trinity Valley College used his football upper body strength to get to the rim and finish through contact. He followed that up with a three pointer and another drive to the basket for a and 1 score. In his battle with Martinelli on the defensive side he again used his strength well and didn’t let Nick get to his spot by just outworking him a couple possessions and stopping him from scoring. Butler would score a couple more times but at this point the game was out of hand and he would only finish with 10 points. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="995990" first="Liam" last="Graham"] 2022 5’10 G</strong></p> <p>At 5’10 Liam showed a lot of heart for working to keep the game interesting down the stretch.  Graham made the first bucket of the game with a pull up jumper from just around the free throw line area.  Right before the half he had an assist from his teammate who would knock the same shot down. But in the second half as the game started to get away from the Vikings Graham would find spots in transition and his teammate Yogi Oliff would hit him for 3 three pointers to cut the game to single digits at one point. But not even Liam heroics were enough as GBS offense was too strong to counter. Graham finished the game with 13 points.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="925196" first="Yosef" last="Oliff"]  2022 6’1 G </strong></p> <p>Oliff was exciting to watch for the first three quarters of the game. Yogi is very crafty and always has his head up looking to make the right play. Oliff hit a couple three pointers early in the game to take the lead. As his shot began to fall he began dishing out assists to teammates when opposing guard [player_tooltip player_id="925190" first="Cooper" last="Noard"] applied pressure on defense.  Yogi went on an 8-2 run for his team to give them a slight lead right before the half. He got to the line several times scoring on some and-1 opportunities.  In the second half GBS locked in on him and started plugging the lane which forced Oliff to hit his teammates.  Unfortunately, Niles North could not convert off the passes and the GBS lead grew larger and larger. Oliff finished the game with 16 points all coming in the first half. Yogi is definitely a player that’s fun to watch.  He has a solid future that I look forward to covering. </p>