Rapolas Ivanauskas leads Barrington past Palatine

Barrington was on cruise control Friday against visiting Palatine.

The Broncos had built a big halftime lead behind Rapolas Ivanauskas and looked as if they would coast to the finish line.

Palatine had other ideas, though, and came back with a strong third quarter before finally succumbing 82-69 in a Mid-Suburban League West game.

‘‘That was the best first half I have ever seen a junior have since I’ve been at Barrington,’’ Broncos coach Bryan Tucker said of Ivanauskas. ‘‘We had a bunch of turnovers in the second half, and it was hard to get Rapolas involved until late in the game.’’

Ivanauskas is listed at 6-9, has a variety of weapons on the offensive end and uses them all.

The uncommitted junior, who has offers from Iowa and Northwestern, finished with 31 points and 11 rebounds.

Ivanauskas drove to the basket, knocked down three-pointers and played strong around the basket with post moves and rebound put-backs.

As a result, he had 20 points and 10 rebounds at halftime, and the Broncos (6-2, 2-0) led 45-16. At one point in the first quarter, Ivanauskas reeled off 11 unanswered points to stake Barrington to a 20-5 first-quarter lead.

‘‘In the first half, my goal was to just go out and be aggressive,’’ Ivanauskas said. ‘‘I think I did a pretty decent job. I was able to keep my head.’’

Palatine (6-2, 0-2) staged a remarkable comeback in the third quarter by outscoring Barrington 38-14 to cut the lead to 62-54.

Barrington had trouble getting the ball out of the backcourt against the Pirates’ press and committed eight turnovers.

Justin Chaney and R.J. Smith led the comeback, combining to shoot 10-for-11 for the third quarter. Chaney connected on five three-pointers en route to 22 points, and Smith scored 17 before fouling out.

Ivanauskas came up big at the end of the game by scoring eight of his 11 second-half points in the final minutes, leading a game-closing 14-5 run.

Ben Weber added 15, and Chris Lester chipped in 11 for Barrington.

‘‘He’s a gym rat,’’ Tucker said of Ivanauskas. ‘‘He has some lofty goals. He comes in and works hard to get better. Teams gear their defenses to try and shut him down but he has adjusted to it well.’’