Coach Zick likes Batavia's Nick

Rochelle boys basketball coach Russ Zick went back a few years in finding a player whose game he can compare to Batavia senior Nick Fruendt.

"I am an old guy and I remember Chet Walker," Zick said. "He's Chet Walker from when I was watching as a kid. He likes to lean, juke, let the guy get in the air and then kind of lean into him. Chet would make $100 million today."

Zick made his observations after watching Fruendt score 27 points against his team last Friday in the senior's second game back from missing 8 games with mono. Fruendt got to the free-throw line 11 times in that game and made 9.

Fruendt followed with 16 points Saturday night in a 56-55 loss to Marshall. He's scored 54 points in his three games from returning from mono despite still not being at 100 percent.

"I'll get in much better shape as the weeks go along," Fruendt said. "I'd much rather be sucking wind and having fun out there than sitting on the bench."

Zick also joined the camp that says Fruendt's absence will wind up making Batavia better come March.

"Maybe one of the best things that happened to them was losing Fruendt," Zick said. "Everyone kicked their game up a little bit."

Cover boy: Fruendt was one of six players whose picture made the cover of the program Saturday night at the 11th annual High School Hoops Showdown.

Only problem -- the photo identified the player as Nick Freundt.

Looking ahead: This week doesn't feature the rivalry games (St. Charles North vs. St. Charles East), the battles for first place (Aurora Central vs. St. Francis) and the marquee nonconference matchups (Batavia vs. Marshall) as a week ago, but that mean there still isn't a lot to look forward to.

Friday, West Aurora will put its perfect DuPage Valley Conference record on the line when the Blackhawks travel to Naperville Central. The Blackhawks are making an impressive return to their normal spot on top of the DVC after a rare off-season a year ago, while the Redhawks are coming off a last-second win over Wheaton North.

Saturday, Geneva will try to make it a St. Charles sweep when the Vikings host St. Charles East. It's also a rematch of the schools' memorable meeting in the second round of the Class 7A football playoffs last fall, a game Geneva won 35-14 in front of over 5,000 fans.

The Vikings continue to be one of the great stories in the area this winter. They pulled out another 1-point win last Friday over Glenbard South, which followed a 1-point win in their previous game against St. Charles North.

DeMoss take command: According to St. Charles North boys basketball coach, Jonathan DeMoss has been taking over games since Jacobs' Christmas tournament.

DeMoss took over one of the North Stars' biggest games this season Saturday, when his 27-point performance fueled his team to a 75-64 come-from-behind win against rival St. Charles East.

"He took over the game and we didn't respond," St. Charles East coach Brian Clodi said on DeMoss, who scored 18 points in the second half. "We couldn't stop him."

Not only was DeMoss key in the win, but so were the rest of the North Stars, who kept their composure, even though they were trailing in the first half.

"(Composure) was the difference in the second half, it really was," Poulin said. "This game is never going to be a blowout … but early on, I got worried, but I have nothing but faith in these guys because they battled. I'm really proud of everyone. It was a team effort."

The win improved the North Stars to 11-9 overall.

"(The win) was fun, but this should be normal," DeMoss said. "We should do this every game. If we played every game like we did in the second half, we'd be a tough team to beat."

The loss put St. Charles East at 7-10 overall. The Saints take on Larkin at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

"We are already fired up for the next game," Clodi said. "We'll be back. It's not the end of the world. Someone had to win the game."

Aurora Central Catholic: The Chargers suffered their first Suburban Catholic Conference loss to St. Francis on Friday. By Saturday, however, things were bright again.

Not only did the Chargers top Montini on the road, but St. Francis lost to Driscoll, which meant that ACC is back on top of the conference standings with one loss.

"It's the SCC," St. Francis coach Shawn Healy said after his team beat ACC Friday. "On any given night anyone can get anyone. (The ACC/St. Francis game) was a typical SCC battle."

ACC's loss to the Spartans snapped a 9-game winning streak. Its biggest problem against the Spartans was that it didn't knock shots down.

"Our kids kept fighting all the way until the end," ACC coach Nate Drye said. "I thought they did a good job defensively … the kids played hard. They took good shots. I didn't think we did anything stupid."

The loss hurt, but ACC recovered nicely against Montini and beat the Broncos 73-54. Driscoll helped ACC out by beating the Spartans that same night 48-45.

Driscoll and St. Francis are both 7-2 in the SCC. ACC is 9-1 to go with its 19-2 overall record.

ACC still has to face Marian and Driscoll on the road with home games against rival Marmion and Immaculate Conception in SCC play the rest of the season.