Glenbard West being challenged

Life for boys basketball teams in the West Suburban Silver is never easy.

For Glenbard West, life outside the Silver has been even tougher.

It looked good early in the season when the Hilltoppers swept three games at the District 87 Thanksgiving tournament. But then Glenbard West ran into Stevenson, which is a favorite to win the Class 4A title with elite senior guard Jalen Brunson.

Since that 61-42 loss to the Patriots, it's been a grind for Glenbard West in its nonconference games.

"I think we're a pretty good team, but that's all we play are pretty good teams," said Hilltoppers coach Tim Hoder. "There's no one on our schedule that we can just show up and beat."

As its record shows, Glenbard West (10-12, 4-5) has been up and down all season. Last week epitomized the campaign, starting with a Silver win over Hinsdale Central on Jan. 31.

The Hilltoppers fell to Wheaton North, beat Downers Grove North at the buzzer and then lost to York on Saturday. A busy stretch continued with Tuesday's win at Wheaton Warrenville South.

It's not so much the bunching of games, though. It's the quality of opponents. In addition to losing to Stevenson, the Hilltoppers also lost nonconference games to Lake Park, St. Charles East and Wheaton North.

Those three teams boast a combined record of 53-11. On the heels of facing Stevenson and its gaudy 19-2 mark, there have been few - if any - schedule breaks for the Hilltoppers, who next play Friday at Oak Park in a Silver matchup.

"When you play the kind of teams we play, you end up with the kind of record we have," Hoder said. "It's tough going through a schedule like this, but hopefully it's preparing our kids. They're ready to battle every night."

Getting deep:

Naperville Central (14-10, 4-3 DuPage Valley Conference) pulled out a grueling 44-40 DVC cross-town victory over Naperville North last Friday.

Grueling mentally and physically, the showdown went in the Redhawks' favor despite their use of only two players off the bench. The rotation became even smaller when Harrison Hallstrom fouled out in the final minute.

"It's been that way for us lately, we play seven or eight guys," said Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer. "The environment, the way things were going, we couldn't get a little cushion until the end. So that's why we were going with what we have."

Regardless of fatigue, adrenaline's bound to carry a player through the final whistle against a fierce rival. All seven players scored for Naperville Central, and six contributed at least a point in the fourth quarter.

With a cross-town win on the line, there's no way any of the players were going to ask for a rest.

"As a player I never liked to come off the floor," Kramer said. "I think some of them might like a break for 30 seconds or something. You talk to them. You check with them. You see if they're all right. But they want it just as bad as us coaches."

Long range plans:

York senior guard Jayvon Thomas thrives at creating shots while driving to the basket, or dishing to open teammates on the perimeter.

The problem has been finishing those opportunities.

"I'd love to see us shoot the ball better from the perimeter," said Dukes coach Vince Doran. "I think we're very capable of doing that. We've just been very inconsistent. We spend a lot of time working on it in practice and hopefully it'll come through for us here at the right time."

The Dukes (14-9, 4-4) made only three 3-pointers in Saturday's West Suburban Silver trip to Glenbard West, but it was just enough to snag a 37-34 victory. Thomas scored 19 of those points including one 3-pointer.

York's averaging four 3-pointers a game on 31 percent shooting. Thomas leads the team with a 19.7 scoring average. No other player averages more than 6.5 points a game.

Whether it's beyond the perimeter or not, Doran wants to see a boost in scoring from others to take the pressure off Thomas.

"He's going to get guys open looks because defenses need to pay attention to him," Doran said. "We need secondary scorers. We haven't had much of that this year. I really believe we have good shooters, and this is the best time of year to get hot."

Football to round ball:

For a senior in his first year of organized basketball, Westmont football star Quintin Brown is doing all right for himself.

Westmont basketball coach Craig Etheridge ran into Brown during a 2014 track meet. The 6-foot-1 senior jokingly said he'd come out for Westmont's summer sessions to "hang out with friends and goof around," Etheridge recalled.

"That got me to thinking, that might not be a bad idea," Etheridge said.

Brown did not show up to summer shootouts, mainly focusing on football. With good reason, since last fall the 187-pound running back set a nine-game Westmont record with 1,391 yards rushing.

After football ended Etheridge talked Brown into coming out for the team. The Sentinels 16-year coach thought he would make a good practice player. Due to a hand injury to forward Kyle Domin that required surgery, it didn't take long for Brown to crack the starting lineup.

He started 15 of Westmont's first 20 games, and though unpolished around the rim and prone to foul trouble Brown was a beast on the boards. At the IC Catholic/Westmont holiday tournament he had games of 15, 20, 14 and 9 rebounds.

With Domin back from injury Brown's minutes are more limited, but it's never a bad idea to have a player who is a hard worker, good leader and as Etheridge said, "fun to hang around" - especially on a team that's 7-16.

"He knows how to compete and he knows how to lead, which is something every team needs, especially a team that's struggling a little bit," Etheridge said.

Coming along:

Picking up a pair of victories over Waubonsie Valley and East Aurora in late January, Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza said the Mustangs were "coming along."

They've kept on coming. Metea, 6-10 in mid-January, is 12-12 entering its Feb. 13 home game against South Elgin.

"I just think we really started finding ourselves defensively right around that Wheaton Warrenville South tournament (Jan. 17-19)," Vozza said. "It makes things easier on the offense end."

Vozza said point guard Bryson Oliver is nearly 100 percent healthy from ankle injuries that started back in football season, where he was an all-state running back. Fellow footballers Nick Dodson, Ron Edwards and Mark Konkle also are staples, Konkle close to 15 points and 8 rebounds a game.

Dei'Ron DeLaRosa joining the starting lineup helps open the middle for the 6-foot-6 Konkle. Both are among six players averaging at least 6 points a game along with Oliver, Dodson, 3-point bomber Matt Helwig and Edwards, who averages more than 11 points.

All these players, plus Bryson Oliver's cousin, Montrell, have at least a dozen steals.

"I think it's everyone stepping up a little bit, and it just contributes to our overall team defense," Vozza said.