Garro Rescues Mustangs with Big Fourth Quarter

Jerron Wilbut started the game with a thunderous reverse dunk.

Jamall Millison ended it with another jam.

In between, the boys basketball team did its best to try and turn coach Jay Baum’s hair prematurely gray before rallying from a 10-point deficit to beat Fremd 66-55 Monday night in Downers Grove.

“Give Fremd a lot of credit,” Baum said. “They’re a very well-coached team, very disciplined. They do what they do [well].

“I thought our first half was about as bad as we’ve played in two years. I don’t want to get into all of the things that went wrong. It was not pretty.”

He got that right. The Mustangs (11-2) committed nine turnovers in the first quarter to fall behind 13-8 and two more in the second quarter.

Fremd consistently shredded South’s defense, hitting outside shots and making all 10 of its free throws in the first half (and 12-for-12 overall) to take a 28-25 lead.

The Vikings (10-7), who have lost five of their last six games after a 9-2 start, extended their lead to 42-32 following a three-pointer by Riley Glassmann with 3:00 left in the third quarter.

But Millison and Wilbut ignited the comeback, with Millison closing the third quarter by sinking the third of his four three-pointers to pull the Mustangs within 44-40.

Then an unlikely savior came to the rescue in the fourth quarter. Center Greg Garro, who had not even attempted a shot in the first three quarters, erupted to score all of his career-high 11 points in the final stanza as the Mustangs outscored the visitors 26-11.

“I think I let the game come to me so then I saw what my opportunities are,” Garro said. “I started crashing the boards and then the rebounds started falling my way.”

The 6'6" Garro had two crucial offensive rebounds, the first leading to a three-point play – his first points of the contest – with 6:22 left that cut the deficit to 46-45. After Glassmann and Millison exchanged three-pointers, Garro scored on another putback to give the Mustangs a 50-49 lead. They would never trail again.

Garro extended the lead with two free throws and, after Wilbut scored on a reverse layup in traffic, Garro made two transition layups off passes from Kevin Honn and Wilbut.

“In the fourth quarter they were pressuring a lot so I would just cut and my teammates would find me,” Garro said. “[The performance] was good for me. I’m not going to jack up every shot because that’s not my role, but I think it’s good that I know that I can finish that well when I need to.”

The Mustangs certainly finished better than they started, turning the screws defensively in the final period after a lackadaisical effort earlier on.

“The first half we were sleeping,” Garro said. “Then in the fourth quarter we stepped it up, picked up our defensive pressure, made them turn the ball over and then we converted on offense. Once we distribute the ball and pick it up on defense, we’re tough to beat.”

Millison scored a game-high 21 points, draining his last seven shots, while Wilbut had 17 points, three steals and two assists. Honn added six points, five rebounds and four assists and Jordan Cannon tallied six points off the bench.

“Fourth quarter we handled the ball and played defense and didn’t foul,” said Baum, whose team went 9-for-9 from the line in the fourth quarter. “We didn’t allow them to get to the line in the fourth quarter and then we made our free throws. So it was a good team win.”

Glassmann scored 16 and Garrett Peters had 12 for Fremd.

“That was the best we’ve played so far this season,” Fremd Coach Bob Widlowski said. “I really thought we put ourselves in a good situation to win the game and then when [the Mustangs] got the lead they did a good job of finishing down the stretch. They’re obviously a very nice team and we’re disappointed that we didn’t walk out of here with a win tonight.”