Confident Hubly (32 points) lifts Elk Grove past Warren

When his minutes coming off Elk Grove's bench last basketball season started to decrease, Bradley Hubly says he stopped playing with confidence and his game went into what he called a "downward spiral."

At Mundelein the last two nights, the only thing going downward for the 6-foot-2 senior guard was his shot, which is back along with his confidence.

Hubly poured in a career-high 32 points on a staggering 13-of-17 shooting, including 5 of 6 from three-point range, as Elk Grove beat Warren 68-61 in third-round action Wednesday.

"I worked hard this summer," Hubly said. "I'm just glad it's starting to pay off."

Elk Grove (2-1) led nearly the entire night. Warren (1-2) was within 8 points with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, but Elk Grove responded with a 6-0 run and hiked the lead to as many as 17 late.

Hubly wasn't the only Grenadier who shot well. Elk Grove went a sizzling 26 of 39 from the floor (67 percent), including 8 of 9 in the opening quarter in building a 20-13 lead.

"We got good looks in the half-court in terms of 3s, but we also did well in transition," Grenadiers coach Anthony Furman said. "It was high-percentage looks across the board."

Hubly had 20 points at halftime on 8-of-8 shooting, as the Grenadiers led 39-25. He beat the halftime buzzer by swishing a right-corner 3.

Junior Juwan Perry had the difficult assignment of defending Hubly for Warren.

"He came out on fire," Perry said. "I did what I could do, but I couldn't stop him. All I could do was try to slow him down. He had a good game."

Hubly scored 6 points in Elk Grove's season-opening loss to Uplift but bounced back with an 18-point effort that included four 3s in the Grenadiers' win over Mundelein.

"He didn't have a good Game 1," Furman said. "We talked about staying focused and just dealing with all the adversities in a game. He shot well (Tuesday) night. We knew he was capable of doing this. He's just got to play confidently and within himself."

Joey Gatziolis added 13 points (5-of-7 shooting) and 4 steals for Elk Grove, while Fulton Wingba had 10 points (3-of-4 shooting). Center Stefan Pantovic contributed 7 points (3-of-4 shooting) and 4 steals.

"I think we love to shoot," Hubly said. "Coach Furman said at the beginning of the year that he knows this team is going to break records for most 3s taken."

Maurice Chambers led Warren with 14 points. The Blue Devils got good production off the bench from sophomore Branden Ellis (13 points, including a 3-pointer), Josh Pelland (9 points, 5 rebounds) and Pierre Bailey (8 points).

"We got a lot of new players, a lot of guys that can play," said Perry, who had 6 points and 4 steals, and took a charge. "We got a little bit of height, too. But we got to get it all together to be able to win some games."

Fremd 54, Lake Forest Academy 40: In the first game at Mundelein, the victorious Vikings got 16 points from Kyle Sliwa.

Patrick Benka and Payton Kim added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Fremd (2-1).

Uplift 92, Mundelein 41: Demarius Jacobs poured in 29 points in Wednesday night's finale at Mundelein, as the Titans improved to 3-0 in the tournament.

Uplift, which led 20-4 after one quarter, also received 13 points apiece from Jamal Hanson and Davarion Jacobs, while Elliot Gongora contributed 11.

Mundelein (0-3) was led by Mark Gutierrez's 10 points coming off the bench. Mustangs sophomore Kyle Enright scored 9 points on three 3-pointers.