Karis leads Glenbrook North to blowout win

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Park Ridge, 01/13/12--Glenbrook North's Kurt Karis steals the ball from Maine East's Evan Nazzal. Maine East HS hosted Glenbrook North HS in boys basketball Friday evening. | Jon Langham~for Sun-Times Media

Updated: February 20, 2012 9:00AM

Three minutes at the start of the second half was all Glenbrook North guard Kurt Karis and his teammates needed to turn a relatively close contest into a blowout of Maine East Friday night.

Karis converted a three-point play to open the third period, and he continued with the hot hand, scoring nine unanswered points to give the Spartans a commanding 21-point lead with five minutes left in the quarter.

Glenbrook North never looked back in earning a 75-53 Central Suburban North victory in Park Ridge.

“Coach (Dave) Weber was telling us to play defense, and he always gets on me to play hard, so I did,” Karis explained. “That is how we came out with the intensity that we needed to, because we ended the first half on a good run. I was just playing hard. I was in the passing lanes and was running the floor, and I just got the points.”

The Spartans’ defense fueled the third-quarter run, as GBN forced Maine East into three quick turnovers, each leading to baskets.

“That is what we take pride in, our defense,” Karis said. “We get stops on defense, and that is what our defense is made up of. That is what we work hard on in practice.”

Karis, a junior, hit 10-of-13 shots to finish with 22 points, while adding four steals. Senior forward Mark Johnson led all scorers with 25 points, connecting on 8-of-9 from the field, and shooting 9-for-11 from the charity stripe.

Glenbrook North had a comfortable 34-19 lead in the second quarter, before Maine East went on a 7-0 run to close the margin to six points with under 40 seconds left in the half. Jason Markus (9 points) responded by hitting back-to-back three-pointers in the final eight seconds, allowing the Spartans to take a 40-28 lead into the locker room.

“Those threes at the end of the half were real big,” Karis said. “Then Jason hit those two big threes. We just kept the train moving into the third quarter.”

Glenbrook North senior guard Adam Chick also clicked for double figures, totaling 10 points and seven rebounds, after knocking down four baskets in the first half. All five starters scored, as Trevor Ponticelli (5 points) buried a three-pointer to start the game and added a bucket in the final period.

“Nobody cares who scores the most ... whoever does it, does it,” Karis said. “Anybody could on any given night. We are closing games out better. That is what we have been working on in practice.”