Ask anyone with Fremd’s boys basketball team and they’ll give you the same answer about the key to Friday’s 53-41 victory at Barrington.
One word: defense.
Vikings coach Bob Widlowski even had one specific player in mind who helped sparked the defensive charge in the Mid-Suburban West opener.
“Ken Leonard (senior guard) did a real nice job on (senior Greg) Gerrard in the second half,” Widlowski said. “He (Gerrard) hurt us in the first quarter and I thought Ken did a great job the rest of the game.”
Barrington (4-2, 0-1) led 14-9 after one quarter as Gerrard (team-high 18 points) scored 10 of the points.
“He started out hot,” Leonard said. “We just focused more as a team on defense and defending on back screens. We always believe our defense leads to offense. Joe Leaf had some nice blocks.”
The 6-foot-7 Leaf (6 points) blocked 3 shots in the final 1:21 of the first quarter. He also had some big rebounds, baskets and steals.
“With Jack (Konopka, who had 4 points) having some foul trouble, Joe stepped up at both ends when we needed him.” Widlowski said.
As usual Zach Monaghan stepped up with his superb floor game, connecting for a game-high 22 points, including a couple of key steals and layups which helped the Vikings (3-2, 1-0) extend their second-half lead.
Senior guard Quinton Brown scored 6 of his 10 points in the fourth quarter, converting some nifty running floaters.
“I just wanted to come through for my team,” said Brown, who had 5 assists. “They were double-teaming Zach, so it was my turn to get the ball to the basket.”
Senior Jim Scharfe added 8 points for Fremd.
“They out-executed us,” said Broncos coach Bryan Tucker. “We had some breakdowns defensively and didn’t execute our game plan.
“We were pretty sloppy with the basketball and we didn’t shoot too well. When you combine those, that’s a pretty bad formula.”
Senior Owen Prunskis added 7 points for Barrington.
“Those two kids (Gerrard and Prunskis) have paid the price in the weight room,” Tucker said. “They are captains for a reason. They are playing their hearts out. We just need more from everyone else.”
