Wrap: West Chicago gives Tigers a good run
With one starting senior in the lineup, West Chicago's boys basketball team will need a little time to sort things out this year, and part of that sorting process occurred Friday despite the Wildcats' 44-38 loss to visiting Wheaton Warrenville South.
"We've been trying to find out who we are, and certainly we'd like to win the ballgame," said Wildcats coach Kevin Gimre. "But I thought tonight was a positive step for us."
West Chicago defended well throughout the DuPage Valley Conference opener and hit some big shots to keep things close, but Wheaton Warrenville South defended better in a crucial fourth quarter in securing the win.
Afterward, Tigers coach Mike Healy quickly tipped his hat to the Wildcats, and then struggled to find positive words to say about his team's night.
"I thought defensively we did a much better job in the second half, and rebounded the ball all right at both ends," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "But that's about it."
"Decisions," said Tigers senior Byron Given, in citing the Tigers' problem area. "The difference between taking good shots and bad shots, being where you're supposed to be, cutting hard, and just getting down the whole rhythm of our offense."
Given led all scorers with 17 points on the night and also pulled down a game-high six rebounds, while West Chicago got 14 points from sophomore guard Chad Driscoll and 10 from fellow sophomore Tyler Griffith.
The Wildcats (0-5, 0-1 in DVC play) were patient offensively led 11-10 after a quarter, over a Tigers (5-0, 1-0) team that was quick on the trigger from behind the arc.
The Tigers won the second quarter and led 25-21 at halftime, getting a few inside buckets from Stephen Mueller and a pair of three-pointers from Given, who hit five treys on the night.
"Byron Given can sure shoot the ball, and that helped them out significantly," Gimre said. "Byron had his share, and that's just going to happen, but I thought we did a nice job defensively on their other kids."
West Chicago outscored the Tigers 10-9 in the third quarter, with Driscoll scoring seven points on a trey and two mid-range jump shots. Griffith also stole a pass and threw down a breakaway dunk in the third, as the Wildcats trailed 34-31 heading into the fourth.
The Tigers played tough defensively throughout the final period, however, earning a 10-7 scoring edge and holding on for the win despite finishing 2-of-14 from the free throw line.
"If we just knocked down five more free throws -- there's just a lot of things we need to do to make things easier on us," Healy said.
-- Gary Larsen
South Elgin 46, Lake Park 38:ŒThis was a victory that didn't feel like one.
South Elgin shot only 40 percent from the free-throw line, failing to put away Lake Park until late in the fourth quarter as the host Storm beat the Lancers 46-38.
"In my eyes we don't deserve to win," Storm coach Chaz Taft said. "We can't have too many of these where we miss that many free throws, miss that many box outs and still come away with a victory."
South Elgin (3-2, 1-0 Upstate Eight Conference) was able to overcome its 8-of-20 free-throw shooting by holding the Lancers to 32 percent shooting and forcing 21 turnovers.
The Storm led 16-13 at halftime despite missing 7 of 8 free throws. But Lake Park (2-3, 0-1) wasn't much better as the Lancers turned the ball over 12 times and shot 4 of 14 in the first half.
Lake Park didn't hit its first field goal until one minute remained in the first quarter when Trent Patterson hit a free-throw line jumper to tie the game at 6-6.
"They took us out of our offense," Lancers coach Cray Allen said. "We've got to learn to get open."
The Lancers came out of halftime with a designed play for Danny Baylis, who hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to tie the game at 16-16. Lake Park eventually took its first lead since 2-0 later in the third quarter on a Michael Pavone three-point play gave the Lancers a 25-24 lead with 1:48 left.
With Lake Park up 27-24, South Elgin senior Adam Hodge hit a 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining in the third as the game was tied 27-27 heading into the fourth.
The Storm scored the first 5 points of the fourth as Hodge and Jordan Dobler hit jumpers and Daniel Lopez made 1 of 2 free throws. The lead never went below 3 the rest of the way, but the Storm were never comfortable as they made only 5 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter.
"We made it closer than it should have been with all the free throws we missed," said Hodge, who led the Storm with 14 points and 8 rebounds. "We could have done the little things better. That kept them in the game I think."
The Storm's Alex Sanchez, who frustrated Lake Park point guards all night, finished with 10 points, 8 in the fourth quarter, and 4 steals. Josh Glenn also added 10 points.
Pavone scored a game-high 14 for Lake Park. Baylis finished with 13 points, 9 coming in the second half.
-- Brian Schaumburg
Oak Park 45, Glenbard West 26: Glenbard West looked to establish its style of play in Friday's West Suburban Silver basketball showdown against Oak Park. In the early going, the Hilltoppers were effective at doing that. They slowed down the tempo of the game with their patient halfcourt offense and their 2-3 zone on defense gave the Huskies some fits.
But it was only a matter of time before Oak Park's quickness and athleticism took over. The host Huskies got rolling in the second quarter fueled by some turnovers and cruised to a 45-26 victory over visiting Glenbard West.
"(The Huskies) are so quick and athletic," said Glenbard West coach Tim Hoder. "We were able to sustain it for awhile, but we couldn't sustain it for four quarters. We will get better from this -- playing against kids with this level of athleticism."
Playing in his second game of the season after being out for a week because of an injury to his thumb on his shooting hand, standout Hilltoppers center John Shurna was the focus of the Oak Park defense. The Huskies pressure kept Shurna from getting the ball and when the Northwestern-bound senior had it, the defense swarmed all over him.
Shurna did finish with a team-high 14 points but was held without a point in the second quarter. As a team, Glenbard West (3-2, 0-1) had its struggles finishing on offense, scoring in the single digits in each of the four quarters.
"We lost three of the last four times we played them because of John Shurna," said Oak Park coach Al Allen. "We are glad to be able to beat John Shurna and Glenbard West. They run a great program."
Shurna led the way in the first quarter, scoring 6 points as the Hilltoppers led 8-5 at the end of the first eight minutes of play.
But in the second quarter, Oak Park used its quickness on defense to get some momentum. The Huskies fullcourt press and half-court trap forced Glenbard West into 9 turnovers and the Hilltoppers managed only 5 points -- a 3-pointer from the right wing by Bryant Venson off a feed from J.T. Wiebe and Shurna fed Wiebe on a nice cut to the basket. Oak Park led 16-13 at halftime.
The Jesse White Tumblers entertained fans at halftime and the exciting action continued when the Huskies (5-2, 1-0) took the court for the second half. Players such as Iman Shumpert, Dan Barnes and Adam Taylor pushed the ball up the court for shots and in the fourth quarter, they got to the foul line as the Hilltoppers were forced to foul to stop the clock.
Oak Park finished the game with a 13-1 run. Shumpert, a senior who will play at Georgia Tech next year, had 9 points during that run, including slamming home an alley-oop dunk. He scored 10 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter. Barnes and Taylor finished with 10 points apiece.
"Give Oak Park credit -- they know their strengths, which are their guards," Shurna said. "They get it and put the pressure on."
-- Brian Pitts
Waubonsie Valley 76, Bartlett 57:ŒGoing into the second half of Friday's Upstate Eight Conference opener against Waubonsie Valley, Bartlett could not have been hotter.
The Hawks, who led by as many as 12 points, dominated the second quarter and ended the first half with Cory Hrynyk's dunk in the final seconds.
Whatever Waubonsie Valley coach Steve Weemer said at halftime, it worked.
The Warriors (5-1, 1-0) held Bartlett to just 19 second-half points and took a 76-57 victory in Bartlett (2-2, 0-1).
"I told (point guard Kevin VandenBerg) and the other seniors you've had three years, it's time," Weemer said.
VandenBerg scored 12 of his 22 points in the third quarter, helping the Warriors kick-start the second half.
VandenBerg scored on Waubonsie's first possession of the second half to cut the Bartlett lead down to 38-31. He then grabbed a steal, ran the length of the court and made it a 5-point game.
The 6-0 guard was just 1 of 4 for 2 points in the first half, but exploded for 20 second-half points on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor.
"Coach told me to be more aggressive and get everyone else involved," said VandenBerg, who finished the game with 4 steals and 4 assists.
The Warriors' other seniors also increased their activity. Kyle Obendorf finished with 16 rebounds, 10 offensive, and Josh Daniels scored 22 points and made 7 of 8 free throws in the second half.
Waubonsie shot just 3 of 9 from the foul line in the first half, but the Warriors owned a 36-18 rebounding advantage.
VandenBerg's presence was the most prevalent.
"(VandenBerg) killed us in the second half," said Bartlett coach James Wolfsmith. "He's sneaky quick. He's a real good decision-maker. We let him control the tempo of the game in the second half."
Despite Waubonsie's third-period resurgence, Hrynyk managed to cut the deficit to 56-50 at 5:00 of the fourth quarter.
The next trip down the court the Hawks were whistled for a foul on Daniels, then argued with the ref and picked up a technical foul. Daniels converted 3 of 4 from the free-throw line and the Warriors never looked back, outscoring Bartlett 21-7 in the final 3 minutes, 56 seconds.
Bartlett turned a 14-8 first-quarter deficit into a 34-26 lead with 2:11 left to play in the first half.
The Hawks made 9 of 12 shots in their 25-point second quarter but hit just 11 of 29 and scored 22 points in the rest of the game.
-- Matt Stacionis
Neuqua Valley 62, St. Charles East 45:ŒNeuqua Valley gave St. Charles East a lesson in why the Wildcats are one of the favorites to win this year's Upstate Eight Conference title -- a lesson in defensive intensity.
The Wildcats forced 17 second-half turnovers and 30 for the game in their 62-45 win in St. Charles on the opening night of UEC play.
"Give all the credit to Neuqua Valley," St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi said. "We saw how hard they play, we've got to match their intensity.
"They are picked to win our conference. They played a great second half. They are going to be a great team."
Neuqua Valley (4-2, 1-0) built a 25-14 lead in the second quarter. The Saints (1-4, 0-1) made 6 straight free throws in the final three minutes to pull within 25-22 at halftime.
That was the last time the outcome was in doubt. The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the third quarter to go ahead 32-22.
The Saints made just 2 field goals in the third quarter, turned the ball over 11 times, watched the Wildcats take three charges and twice gave up offensive rebounds on missed Neuqua Valley free throws that led directly to 5 more points.
When Brad Keeler drained a 3-pointer to end the third quarter, the Wildcats' lead stood at 48-30. They added the first 8 points of the fourth quarter to go ahead 56-30, a 31-8 run to start the second half.
"I thought our defense went to the next level in the third quarter, which in turn helped our offense considerably," Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton said. "I just thought our defense was outstanding."
In addition to their 30 turnovers, the Saints shot 33 percent from the field. Neuqua Valley was a little worse at 32.3 but took 26 more shots thanks to all the Saints turnovers.
"We were working hard," Neuqua Valley junior Derek Raridon said. "Thirty turnovers is great for us. We were trying to get after it."
Raridon, the MVP of the York tournament, led all scorers with 18 points, including four 3-pointers.
"I had a lot of open looks at the basket," said Raridon, who hit four of his six 3-pointers. "Fortunately most of them went in."
"He's a very smart player, the son of a coach," Sutton said.
Christian Shonkwiler got a start for Neuqua Valley and drew three charges. Sixth man Dan Pawelski scored 14 points and grabbed 9 rebounds.
Keeler and Steve Waeghe both finished with 8 points off the bench, as the Neuqua reserves outscored their starters 32-30.
"We talked to them all week about what a hostile environment this was for us. It's always a tough road game for us," Sutton said. "Anytime you can sneak out a conference game on the road you'll take it."
-- John Lemon
York 61, Downers North 46: Full team contributions.
That's what must happen this season for York. Friday night at Downers Grove North, the Dukes got it.
Starting guards Kevin Kahovec and Tom Judge scored in a decisive 9-0 run, but reserves Joe Santiago and Will Sullivan also keyed the flurry, which paved the way to the Dukes' 61-46 West Suburban Silver victory.
"No matter who we brought in off the bench I thought they played just as hard -- whether it was for 15 seconds or for three minutes -- than any of the starters," said York coach Al Biancalana.
Off to a nice start in the game and the season, Downers North (4-1, 0-1) led after the first quarter and at halftime, 26-24.
Over a span of 3:23 in the third quarter, scrappy York (3-2, 1-0) turned a 5-point deficit into a 34-30 lead.
"They kind of went to an individual-style offense and we stayed with our team defense, and that's really what pulled it out for us," Judge said.
Free throws, too. York made 31 of 41, including 20 of 29 in the fourth quarter.
"We'll keep them level-headed, watch some film, correct things that we've done wrong and get better because of it," said Downers North coach Jim Thomas.
Steve Ganser led York with 17 points. Roger Coffin added 11 and Kahovec 10. Deon Thomas led the Trojans with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
-- David Oberhelman
Fenton 61, Elmwood Park 45:ŒDamian Sieradzki scored a game-high 27 points as the visiting Bison (2-3, 1-0) claimed victory in their Metro Suburban Conference opener. Gozie Umeadi added 12 points and Billy Gratzl netted 11 points.
Lisle 46, Manteno 32:ŒThe visiting Lions (1-6, 1-0) notched their first win of the season to open play in the Interstate Eight Conference. Andrew Rapciak led all scorers with 20 points, knocking down six 3-pointers.
Lyons Twp. 54, Hinsdale Central 44:ŒJohn Whitelaw led the Red Devils (3-1, 0-1) with 16 points in their West Suburban Silver loss on the road.