Redhawks start fast, drop Lake Park

A solid team effort punctuated by a pair of strong individual performances marked Naperville Central's play against Lake Park on Monday.

Danny Ondik and Drew Crawford shined in the Redhawks' 62-38 win over a Lancers team that struggled to score throughout the opening-round game of Fenton's 22nd Annual Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving Tournament.

"We played great defense tonight. We went to a zone, and I thought we really contained them well," said Crawford, who led all scorers with 17 points, had a game-high 8 rebounds, and also dished out 5 assists on the night.

"I thought we played very well as a team," said Redhawks coach Pete Kramer. "This was a good first game for us. We played together, and played under control."

A slow-starting game was tied 6-6 after a quarter of play, before the Redhawks (1-0) outscored Lake Park (0-1) 19-9 in the second. Matt Jones scored 6 points off the bench for the Redhawks in the quarter and Crawford sparked his squad, while the Lancers' offense continued to stall.

"We practice against the zone in practice a lot, and I thought we were prepared," said first-year Lancers coach Cray Allen. "But we stood around too much and watched things happen, and you obviously can't do that against a zone."

Crawford buried two of his three 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the third quarter, and the Redhawks led by 15 heading into the fourth. Ondik's value to his squad was also prominent throughout the second half.

"Ondik was composed, he took care of the ball, and made good decisions," Kramer said. "He got us into our (offensive) sets."

Underclassmen Nick Linne and Matt Neufeld also played well in spurts for the Redhawks, and Harrison Daniels buried a pair of 3-pointers in finishing with 10 points.

"The Schmitz brothers (Matt and Mike) are so athletic, and they kind of do the dirty work for us," Kramer said. "And Joe Rickert hit a couple big baskets for us."

Neufeld also netted 10 points, while Jones finished with 6. "We just look to find the open man," Crawford said. "If someone's open, we'll try to get him the ball."

The Redhawks pulled away in the fourth quarter, going up 49-28 consecutive Daniels treys and keeping a big lead in the face of increased Lancers' pressure.

Jason Sotira led Lake Park with 10 points on a night of cold team shooting.

"Put together the combination of turnovers, shooting the ball poorly, and not getting shots off, and you're going to struggle," Allen said.

Fenton 57, Elk Grove 48: Fenton has never hoisted the big hardware from the boys basketball tournament it has hosted.

And the Bison didn't get off to a good start Monday night. They gave up 22 points in the first 10 minutes and 6-foot-4 senior Damian Sieradzki was ice cold against Elk Grove.

But the defense clamped down and Sieradzki heated up for a career-high 24 points as Fenton pulled away to a 57-48 win in the opening round of the 22nd annual Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving Tournament in Bensenville.

"We stepped it up a lot," Sieradzki said. "We came out not playing to our potential.

"As the game went on we finally realized what we were playing for and stepped it up. It was all a team effort."

Sieradzki, whose previous high was 22 points, wasn't deterred by a slow start. He scored 6 points in a 8-0 run that put the Bison up 47-39 with 4:17 to play.

"As a shooter, if you miss your first 3 shots, you can't go back and think about those," said Sieradzki, who also had 12 rebounds of the Bison's 50-32 advantage. "You've got to let it go."

Elk Grove senior Billy Hubly (21 points) hit 3 straight 3-pointers and found Cory Cetkovic for a layup in an 11-0 run for a 21-11 lead.

But Hubly and Chris Hayworth, who hit three 3s and scored 12 points, each hit just once from behind the arc in the second half.

"I thought we dug in and got back in the game by tightening up defensively," said Fenton coach Dennis Cromer. "Because we got a hand in their face they weren't getting as many good looks."

Andy Larson's steal and layup put the Grens up 36-35 with 2:30 left in the third. But Fenton's relentless work on the boards paid off -- particularly in the decisive run.

"They did a good job of going to their strengths," said first-year Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman. "The pounded the glass, got good penetration and shot well from the line (21-for-30).

"We learned a lot tonight. We played 11 and I think all 11 can contribute."

Gozie Umeadi had 19 points and 13 rebounds and Darek Potuszynski scored 6 of his 10 points in the fourth quarter for Fenton, which finished second for the sixth time in its tourney last year.

"We have the players to do it and the discipline to do it," Sieradzki said of winning the title. "It's a big goal and we could do it this year."

-- Marty Maciaszek