Wheeling stops Elk Grove

Point guard. Power forward.

Doesn't matter where you put Wheeling's James Kurtz. He sparkles. More importantly, he produces.

He produced 21 points Friday night, rotating through three different positions, to lead Wheeling back from an early deficit at home to score a 49-39 Mid-Suburban East boys basketball win over Elk Grove.

"Any position I have to go to, that's what I'm going to do," the 6-foot-1 senior said after the game. He looked competent at them all.

At point, helping to revive the offense after falling behind 15-6, he dished out assist after assist, on the fastbreak to Ryan Fallon and out of the set offense to Michael Barton.

Up front, he muscled his way to a key fourth-quarter 3-point play on his second putback attempt of his own miss. And from the perimeter, he hit a buzzer-beater jumper from just inside the arch to close the third quarter.

Despite his own production, he credited Wheeling's defensive adjustments with being the key. The Cats (2-5, 1-2) went to a zone after Elk Grove picked apart their man-to-man.

"The zone helped us get moving. We moved our feet, made sure everyone was covered," he said.

Indeed they were covered. Elk Grove shot just 9-of-33 after the first quarter, although Matt Martinski (20 points) nearly shot them back into the game from long range in the second half. But the Grens (1-7, 0-3) never got the lead back after Wheeling scored 11 straight points from the first quarter into the second, sparked by sophomore center Preston Harvey off the bench.

"We didn't adjust to the things they did," particularly the zone, Elk Grove coach Anthony Furman said. And they never caught up to Kurtz. "He's tough because he can post you or he can penetrate."

Still, it was the defense that was the Wildcats focus after the game. "We're going to go as far as our defense goes," said head coach Lou Wool. "Our No. 1 priority is defense."

"With speed and hustle," said Kurtz of a team that often finds itself out-sized and undermanned.