UEC River showdown coming Thursday night; Kerkman closing in on 800 wins

Now for the rematch.

Eight weeks ago St. Charles East's boys basketball team beat Geneva 77-69 to gain an upper hand it hasn't relinquished in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division. The teams reconvene Thursday in Geneva.

“The key this time, same thing as last time, score more points,” said St. Charles East coach Patrick Woods, tongue in cheek — maybe.

Keys from the first game also included Geneva's unofficial 25 turnovers (Vikings coach Phil Ralston counted 27) forced by St. Charles East's trapping, full-court defense. That allowed the Saints to turn a 19-15 first-quarter deficit into a 56-43 lead entering the fourth, including a 21-0 third-quarter run.

A 21-0 run negates sins such as getting “murdered” on the boards, Woods said — 27 to 11. As well as Geneva shot — 25 of 40 from the floor — St. Charles East nearly matched it at 21 for 40 and added 26 free throws in 31 attempts.

“We can't turn the ball over like we did,” said Ralston, hoping to improve to 2-6 against St. Charles East since Woods took over the Saints. Geneva won 67-49 on Feb. 1, 2014.

The dueling stars, St. Charles East point guard Cole Gentry and Geneva's 6-foot-7 Nate Navigato, each scored 29 points. Gentry, however, nabbed 8 steals.

Geneva center Loudon Vollbrecht had the best game of his career to that point with 23 points and 8 rebounds. Yet the Saints offset that scoring with Mick Vyzral's 15 points, Jake Asquini with 11 and 10 from Evan DiLeonardi, who initially guarded Navigato.

Cam Miller and James McQuillan also took turns against the Buffalo-bound swingman, and defense by committee will again be the case.

“Absolutely,” Woods said. “He's their best player and you need a couple guys to guard him.”

Ralston believes his team is still “evolving,” the staff still devising the right combinations between Bennett Fuzak and Chandler Fuzak, Mike Landi, Daniel Santacaterina, Sean Chambers and others who can give St. Charles East the most trouble.

Senior guard Pace Temple, though, missed that first contest. A potential difference maker particularly handling the ball, since he returned from a football knee injury on Jan. 10 the Vikings have won 10 straight games.

Geneva enters at 20-2 overall, 8-1 in the UEC River. St. Charles East comes in at 18-2, 9-1.

“It's a game that's got a lot more hype behind it,” Ralston said, “because at the beginning of the season it was just two teams that had good records going into the game. Now it's two teams that arguably are among the top teams in the area.”

“You're not going to see anything earth-shattering new from us,” Woods said. “We're going to try to score a lot of points and keep them from scoring and hopefully that'll result in a win.”

That Sisco kid:

There are a lot of unheralded players out there. To Aurora Christian coach Pat McNamara, senior forward Juwan Sisco is not unheralded.

“He's been one of our best players all year, right from the get-go,” McNamara said. “We've just got to get him more minutes.”

Sisco emerged as a role player as a junior late last season, a banger McNamara sent in off the bench for inside defense and offensive rebounds.

Sisco still comes off the bench but is among Aurora Christian's leaders in several categories — fourth in scoring, first in offensive rebounds and second in total rebounds, third in field goal percentage, second in blocks. First, by a wide margin, in taking charges.

Entering Tuesday's 64-42 victory over Montini Sisco had absorbed 19 of the Eagles' 24 charges.

“That tells you something about Juwan, I don't know about the rest of the team,” McNamara said.

It jibes, though, with Aurora Christian's roster. Sisco is the fittest to accept the punishment since the other players most likely to be in the paint are either thin (Zach Singer) or the top scorer (R.D. Lutze). At 6-foot-2, 240 pounds, Sisco is built for impact.

“I told him, ‘You might not start but you're getting starter's minutes from here on out.'” McNamara said. “He's played really well at a high level and I don't see any reason why he can't do that the rest of the year.”

Landmark near:

Only four Illinois high school boys basketball coaches have won 800 games in their career.

Very soon it'll be five.

West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman enters Thursday's UEC Valley Division game at Metea Valley with a record of 797-310 in 39 seasons as the Blackhawks' varsity coach.

Should West Aurora beat Metea and then South Elgin on Saturday at home, Kerkman will be sitting on 799 career victories next Friday against Neuqua Valley in Aurora. The Blackhawks visit East Aurora on Saturday.

According to basketball historian Brian Harris, St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore leads all coaches with 949 victories, against 332 losses. The members of the 800 club are each retired: Steve Goers, who got most of his 881 wins at Rockford Boylan; Dick Van Scyoc, with Washington and Peoria Manual for most of his 826 victories; and Centralia's Arthur Trout with 811.

Kerkman, who with West's 68-55 win over Bartlett on Jan. 16 passed the 792 lifetime wins of Collinsville's Vergil Fletcher, is the fourth active coach above 700. Kerkman ranks behind Pingatore and ahead of Lincoln's Neil Alexander and Nokomis' Steve Kimbro. Retired St. Charles and Kaneland coach Ron Johnson ranks 16th all time with 710 wins.

“When he gets his 800th victory it will be a testament to his dedication to the sport and to the players and community of West Aurora. It's a great accomplishment,” Blackhawks assistant Paul Kieffer said of Kerkman.

West Aurora athletic director Jason Buckley said if Kerkman wins No. 800 at home the event will be commemorated after the game. If it happens on the road there will be a ceremony before West Aurora's next home game. The Blackhawks wrap up their regular season Feb. 20 at South Elgin and Feb. 25 against Waubonsie Valley at home.

Getting Kerkman to comment on the imminent landmark win has been fruitless. The 1990 Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee prefers to focus on the team.

Instead another IBCA Hall of Fame inductee close to Kerkman, District 129 Board president and longtime radio announcer Neal Ormond, addressed the achievement.

“He certainly is an outstanding coach, an outstanding gentleman, he has the highest respect of the community,” said Ormond, who calls games on WBIG-1280 AM. “He has really been very ethical in all of his dealings. He has not gone out to try to solicit talent to try to move in and that's not something that all schools or coaches can say ... He kind of takes the hand that he's been dealt.”

Ormond noted that Kerkman's stay at West Aurora, including sophomore and junior varsity coaching positions, spans 53 years; Kerkman's record at all levels is 924-419.

“He is a master tactician. He spends untold hours reviewing tapes and scouting other opponents, so his homework preparation is second to none. And, one might say, why bother when you've got a pretty good team? Well, he wants to make sure he knows what's happening going in,” Ormond said.

“I think I speak for West High fans when I say we're so proud to have someone like Gordie Kerkman to mold our young men and coach our basketball team.”