Area teams ride roller coaster in first half

Before we get into the 2011 schedule, which starts tonight with an Upstate Eight crossover between Bartlett and Geneva, here's a last look back at how 2010 ended for our area boys basketball teams.

The holiday tournaments weren't particularly kind. St. Charles North was the only one with a winning record at 3-2, yet after playing for the championship at Jacobs the past three years, the North Stars were hoping for more than the noon game on the final day.

Batavia, Kaneland and Marmion all went 2-2 at Elgin, Plano and Waubonsie Valley, respectively. West Aurora finished 1-2 at Pontiac, Aurora Christian 2-3 at DeKalb, Geneva 1-3 at East Aurora, St. Charles East 1-3 at York and Aurora Central 1-3 at Waubonsie Valley.

That's a combined 15-22, and as we head into 2011 only Kaneland at 8-4, West Aurora at 6-4 and Batavia at 7-6 are over .500, and obviously nobody is tearing it up at a clip like a few teams in neighboring counties like Benet (14-0), Wheaton Academy (12-0), Glenbard East (11-1), Elgin (9-3) or Neuqua Valley (13-0)... teams that figure to be hurdles come postseason time.

Beyond the wins and losses, there's plenty to look back at over the past two weeks.

All-tourney time: St. Charles North's Josh Mikes, St. Charles East's Kendall Stephens, Geneva's Dan Trimble, Batavia's Jesse Coffey, Marmion's Eddy Grahovec and Kaneland's Daniel Helm and Chaon Denlinger all made the all-tournament team at their respective tournaments.

That group makes up a good preview at top candidates for our all-area team in a couple months, along with West Aurora's Juwan Starks, Batavia's Elliott Vaughn and St. Charles North's Kyle Nelson among others.

Stephens' all-tourney selection at York came with a major scare for Saints coach Brian Clodi. The 6-foot-3 sophomore guard took a hard foul in a second-round game against Brother Rice and stayed on the court for several minutes.

Stephens eventually was helped off and returned a few minutes later. He finished with 28 points.

“He's our franchise,” Saints coach Brian Clodi said. “He's so much fun to watch. We try to get the ball in his hands and good things happen.

“Kendall is just special. Anytime the ball is in his hands he makes things happen.”

When asked how his team defended Stephens, Brother Rice coach Pat Richardson quickly said, “Poorly.”

“He's hard to guard because he uses his screens well and they run good stuff offensively,” Richardson said. “They cut hard and screen well. But I don't think we defended him very well at all.”

We'll watch that again and again and...: St. Charles East certainly had the game of the tournaments with its 47-44 victory over No. 1 seed Maine South, a win that came on Spencer Motley's shot from beyond half-court at the buzzer.

Clodi said they enjoyed watching that game on tape, showing it to the team before their next game.

“In 18 years I've never seen one like that,” Clodi said.

Enforcer: Nelson followed an 8-block game earlier in the Jacobs tournament against Prairie Ridge by stuffing 6 Jacobs shots in the North Stars' final game.

Nelson has worked hard to be able to block shots without fouling.

“I just like blocking shots,” the 6-foot-7 Nelson said. “I just try to stay low. (Teammate) Josh (Mikes) always makes fun of me. He says when you stand up you are 7-8, you don't have to jump. I try to stand my ground and let them shoot into me.”

North Stars coach Tom Poulin certainly has been impressed, both with Nelson's presence in the middle and demeanor on a team that's had its up and downs in getting to its current 7-7.

“Really this first half I'd say at this point we are extremely pleased with Kyle and what he's doing on both ends and his leadership and maturity,” Poulin said. “It's great to see and we're real proud of what he's done.

“He's smart, he stays veridical, he doesn't tip over on top of people. He chests up and gets his arms straight up and jumps after the shooter jumps which leads to deflections and blocked shots as opposed to getting caught in the air. He continues to get better.”

Spark off the bench: Geneva certainly expected to be better than 6-10 now but coach Phil Ralston hopes he's found some offense off the bench in senior Marcus Stierwalt, who canned three 3-pointers last Wednesday against Hope.

“The sliver lining in this is we gave him a role on the team and he did a brilliant job (against Hope),” Ralston said. “He's been doing it this whole week. I'm very happy to see him find that niche and I hope he continues to improve on that.”

Spark off the bench, take two: Jason Weinzirl also provided St. Charles North with some key buckets at Jacbos including a career-high 11-point game against Crystal Lake South.

“Jason has been big all season,” Poulin said. “Sometimes it doesn't show up in points. He's been playing great defense, taking more than one charge a game, and he's zeroed in on what we are trying to do each possession.”

That would be focusing on defense and moving the ball on offense.

“Coach just wants me to come off the bench and provide energy,” Weinzirl said. “We've got a great starting core. When we get our bench guys in the game we don't want to skip a beat, just keep going. My main goal is to get in and play defense and get us running in transition and give us some energy.”

Spark off the bench 3: Brady Strittmatter also gave Batavia good minutes, including 7 points in their final game of the tournament against Glenbrook South. That's something the Bulldogs are especially glad to see given their struggles with foul trouble.

Refreshing attitude: Speaking of Batavia big men, two thumbs-up to senior Elliott Vaughn.

With his rebounding, shot blocking and ability to score around the basket, Vaughn certainly has the ability to play somewhere in college next year.

But that's not on Vaughn's mind much. In this day and age of year-round basketball, how refreshing is it to hear something like this about how much a player enjoys high school basketball?

“I'm looking at a couple (colleges) in the offseason but once I start practice I just shut it down,” Vaughn said. “It's Batavia basketball first. My main goal is I am going to go off to college and play college ball somewhere God-willing but I want to leave lasting memories here at this (Batavia) gym. If I go anywhere I won't know anyone in the stands. Here I know everyone in the stands. It's something I'm never going to duplicate.”

It certainly would be great to see 2011 bring some more memories for Vaughn and anyone else with their priorities in such impressive order.

jlemon@dailyherald.com