Raiders getting hot at right time

Glenbard South remained one of the area's hottest teams in 2008 with Tuesday's stunning Western Sun Conference upset win at state-ranked Batavia.

The Raiders (12-8) have won six of their last seven games, including consecutive wins over Wheaton Warrenville South, Willowbrook and Batavia -- teams with a combined 43 wins.

Now with a dozen wins of their own, the Raiders are coming on at the perfect time.

"We're just getting over that hump," said Glenbard South coach Wade Hardtke. "Confidence is such a wonderful thing. The kids really believe in themselves."

Glenbard South matched its five wins from last season by its ninth game, and four of the Raiders' early losses came by an average of only 4 points.

With the start of the New Year arrived a surge of success -- and confidence. Their lone loss in the last seven games was by a point at Geneva.

Depth and the emergence of 6-foot-6 senior center Andy Manson have accompanied the wins. Manson scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half against Batavia, notching his third 20-point Western Sun performance.

"He's a hard-working kid who's never been the go-to guy," Hardtke said. "He just keeps getting better and better. He's more comfortable being that go-to player."

Silent super soph: Six sophomores start for DuPage Valley Conference varsity teams, with several more playing extensive minutes off the bench.

One of the quieter sophomore performances has come from Glenbard North's James Fleming. Despite the Panthers struggling to a 3-6 DVC record this season, the 6-foot guard has developed into a major bright spot.

"He's always had the ability to score," said Panthers coach Erin Dwyer. "Now he's starting to put together complete games."

After a slow start Fleming has averaged 23 points per game in Glenbard North's last four DVC games. That includes a season-high 31-point outing against Glenbard East and a 15-point third-quarter burst against Wheaton North.

Perhaps most impressive about Fleming's offensive output has been his efficiency. He's knocking down better than 80 percent of his free throws and 52 percent of his shots from the field.

"He's got a bright future," Dwyer said. "He's just got a knack for putting the ball in the basket."

In and out: Benet's flirtation with full strength continues.

Six-foot-seven senior Ryan Haggerty, who recently accepted a scholarship offer to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, hurt his ankle in the Redwings' 52-50 win over St. Francis on Jan. 26.

Haggerty missed both Benet games last weekend as the Redwings (10-9) lost at Marian Catholic and won at Wheaton Academy.

Benet coach Marty Gaughan hoped to have Haggerty back in practice by this Wednesday. To prevent unnecessary wear on the ankle, his ankle was in a boot last weekend.

"He's in the boot as a precaution, it's not in a cast or anything," Gaughan said.

Reserve guard Joe Morris was also out with an ankle injury while starter Jono Davern played sparingly Saturday after missing two practices with an illness. For two days last week six Benet players were out of practice.

The good news, though, is senior forward Giancarlo Cecchini saw his first action of the season last weekend. Coming back from a torn ACL in his knee, Cecchini played a little bit against Marian Catholic and saw even more court time against Wheaton Academy.

With Cecchini a solid 6-5, Gaughan's looking forward to having a full stable of post men that includes Haggerty and 6-7 Joe Meyerhoff.

"It's nice to see him out there," Gaughan said of Cecchini. "I'm hoping that with three more weeks of practice and a little more game experience, he's going to be somebody to step in and really help us out."

Check the calendar: Friday night basketball is a given in the DuPage Valley Conference. We've also seen Tuesday and Saturday games this season, but the calendar started getting a lot more interesting this week.

Today's wrestling sectional at Naperville North forced the Huskies to move their game against Wheaton North up a day to Thursday.

Last Thursday's snowstorm, meanwhile, forced the postponement of three DVC games. Two of the games -- Glenbard East at Wheaton Warrenville South and West Aurora at Glenbard North -- will be made up on Monday.

With the DVC finales slated to be played on Feb. 20, a Wednesday, that'll mean conference games this season will have been played on every day of the week except Sunday.

First things first: We like to preview the best boys prep basketball games.

This week that would include St. Francis at Driscoll, both in a heated three-team battle with Aurora Central Catholic for the Suburban Catholic Conference title.

The stumbling block is the game is on Saturday and both teams play Friday, too.

Neither St. Francis nor Driscoll can afford to look past their respective opponents, Immaculate Conception and Marian Central.

Driscoll, which beat ACC 67-57 in a playoff atmosphere last week, seems secure against an opponent with a record of 3-19. But Highlanders coach Nick Latorre can smell a trap.

"After the big game we had with ACC, we're prime to have a letdown for that game and prime to be looking ahead to Saturday's game against St. Francis," Latorre said.

"The good thing for us is we're home and home."

St. Francis isn't as lucky. The Spartans are in Elmhurst tonight and Addison on Saturday. The first time through the league they defeated both teams, with a 47-44 squeaker over Driscoll on Jan. 19.

"Actually, I think that's one of the more difficult places to play," St. Francis coach Shawn Healy said of IC, the sole focus of this week's practices, at least until Saturday's two-hour run-through against Driscoll tendencies.

"The last couple of years I think (IC) has done a great job bringing the fans out, and that's been tough," Healy said. "And as a team we just haven't performed the greatest. It's not like it's long travel, but we just haven't played well there."

Neither Driscoll, St. Francis nor anyone else will gain sympathy from Immaculate Conception coach Darren Howard.

In January the Knights had four straight double weekends, with seven of the eight games against SCC opponents.

Howard sees the road playing a big role in Saturday's game.

"I would say Nick's definitely got the advantage going into the weekend," he said. "They're playing very well, and they don't have to travel."

A bright spot: This has not been the smoothest season at Downers Grove North.

The Trojans' 51-43 win over cross-town rival Downers South last Saturday did well to pave over some of the rough spots.

"The kids were obviously very happy just for the fact that not one kid in that locker room had beaten a Downers South team," said Trojans first-year coach Jim Thomas.

"From that standpoint it was kind of a big relief for the seniors going on next year, to get that off their chest."

Senior forward Deon Thomas, a transfer from Wheaton Warrenville South is not well steeped in the tradition.

Varsity veterans such as Drew Vogler and three-year starter Wes Love are, though. It had to have been sweet for Love to cap an 11-2 run to start the game with a dunk.

Tonight against a good Hinsdale Central club, Downers North will see if its win over Downers South translates to more success.

The Trojans, who started out 4-0 but have gone 4-13 since, and 0-8 in the West Suburban Silver, have a tough final road -- at Hinsdale Central, hosting Proviso West and at Lyons Twp. and Glenbard West.

"We're obviously not the best team in the conference, but my kids are still learning my philosophy and my offensive strategies," Thomas said.

"I feel they're just starting to come around. This past weekend may be a blessing for us as far as this stuff is working for us. We'll see what happens, though."

Welcome back: Wheaton Academy sophomore Peter Rusthoven, out with an undisclosed medical problem since November, may return tonight in the Warriors' home game against Streamwood.

Rusthoven, a 6-foot-8 center, scored a total of 26 points in Wheaton Academy's first two games, both wins. Health problems caused him to shut himself down until Wednesday, when he finally took the practice floor.

P(retty)S(trange)L(eague): The Private School League tournament is Monday, Wednesday and Friday of next week. The first-, third- and fifth-place games, plus a round-robin between the last three teams, will all be held on Friday at Aurora Christian.

Friday's league games can totally sway the seeds in the nine-team conference, which has five teams within 1.5 games of each other.

Wheaton Academy coach Paul Ferguson explained that if Walther Lutheran beats Chicago Christian tonight, then Walther gets the first seed and Chicago Christian takes the fifth. If Chicago Christian wins it gets the top seed and Walther falls to third just ahead of Wheaton Academy.

Right now, Ferguson believes that PSL leader Walther Lutheran and surging Timothy Christian are the top two teams in the league.

The Trojans have gone 5-2 since the new year, with wins over Walther, Wheaton Academy and Montini.

"The kids finally bought into sharing the ball a little bit and not shooting the first shot that comes and understanding roles a little better. I think for a long time we've been playing really good defense," said Timothy coach Jeff Powers.

The Trojans' core of Jaaron Holmes, Andrew Logan, Peter Tameling, Andrew Temple, Joel Sytsma has been aided off the bench by Daylan Anderson, Rob Stein and now senior forward Vince Williams.

Williams scored 11 points in a 22-point win over a good Wheaton Academy team. His 14 points helped give Walther Lutheran its first loss in the PSL.

"That was a really nice lift that we needed," Powers said.