Grenadiers on nice roll
Elk Grove's boys basketball team will find out this weekend if it has truly turned the corner.
The Grenadiers are headed in the right direction with a three-game winning streak as it hosts Mid-Suburban East leader Prospect at 7:30 p.m. today and visits East Suburban Catholic Conference co-leader St. Patrick on Saturday night.
"The kids are excited in the locker room," said coach Anthony Furman after Elk Grove improved to 5-9 with a 56-39 win over Palatine on Tuesday night.
With good reason since there wasn't much excitement last year as the Grenadiers finished 4-24.
They started this season 1-7, but they capped a 3-2 finish at the Jacobs tournament with wins over Barrington and Cary-Grove.
"We got some confidence coming off some good basketball at Jacobs," Furman said. "I thought we didn't compete real well against Jacobs (71-47 loss) and Marian Central (69-58 loss). but we continued to have meetings with the guys and said our expectations have to be higher.
"It clicked against Barrington and carried over against Cary-Grove. This team is starting to believe in themselves more."
Senior scoring leader Matt Martinski (14.6 ppg) is a perfect example as he's averaged 18.4 points the last seven games. Donny Duschinsky is averaging 7.9 points, and Tim Furlong is coming off the bench to average 7 points a game.
Furman has also been happy with how senior J.J. Lastovich has run the offense. He said it showed in the way the Grens' handled Palatine's defensive pressure Tuesday.
"One of the big things we're improving on is 32 minutes is such a long time, but they're not getting frustrated when things aren't going their way," Furman said. "We didn't panic with it (against Palatine), where early in the year when things didn't go their way, they panicked and mistakes compounded."
They can't afford that and will need to continue their improved play on defense against two talented offenses.
"That's where it starts here in the MSL," Furman said. "(Prospect) will be hungry and itching to get on track."
Struggling Knights: The good news for Prospect with a four-game losing streak is none of the defeats affected a 3-0 MSL East start.
"The East has been a priority of this program the last two years," said Prospect coach John Camardella.
"I really like to think we'll be able to make a run in the second half and we'll put in the work that's needed."
Prospect was rolling up 66 points a game in a 9-1 start but has averaged just 48 points in its losing streak. But last year it rebounded from a 1-3 finish at the Wheeling Hardwood Classic to claim a share of the MSL East title.
Sophomore breakouts: The holiday tournaments featured a pair of sophomores that enjoyed career games.
Fremd guard Zach Monaghan, whose brothers Pat and Matt were all-area guards, was 6-for-7 on 3-pointers for his 18 points in a loss to Hoffman Estates in the third-place game at Elgin.
Monaghan is averaging 9 points a game and has hit 15 3-pointers in seven games since his varsity promotion.
"He stepped up and did a nice job for us," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "He made some nice passes as well."
Wheeling's Riley Harvey scored 6 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter of a 60-59 opening-round loss in its tournament to St. Viator.
"That was by far the best game he's played," said Wheeling coach Lou Wool. "With Riley it's a combination of adjusting to the speed at the varsity level and having confidence.
"He's a good offensive player and the more confidence he getsin his game the better he's going to be as the year goes on."
Big events: There is no shortage of shootouts, showdowns and showcases coming up in the next few weeks:
• The 12th annual High School Hoops Showdown will be Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. The triple-header has an MSL West matchup of Conant-Barrington at 4:30 p.m., Schaumburg-Jacobs at 6:30 p.m. and defending Class 2A state champion North Lawndale and St. Joseph at 8:30 p.m.
• Rockton Hononegah hosts its annual Martin Luther King Shootout on Saturday, Jan. 17 and Monday, Jan. 19. Each team plays twice each day and the tourney starts with Hoffman Estates facing Elgin tourney champion Neuqua Valley at 9:30 a.m.
Also in the tourney are Sterling and Illinois-bound Joseph Bertrand, Zion-Benton and Ohio State recruit Lenzelle Smith and Hononegah and Western Michigan recruit David Brown.
• The Chicagoland Conference Challenge will be held Jan. 25 and Feb. 8 at Loyola University's Gentile Center.
The first Sunday of five game includes Buffalo Grove playing Lindblom at 3 p.m. The second five-game Sunday is capped by Schaumburg and Alabama-bound Cully Payne meeting Glenbrook South and 6-9 Notre Dame signee Jack Cooley.
•The 14th annual McDonald's City-Suburban Showdown is Feb. 14 at Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The doubleheader starts with Warren and Illinois-bound Brandon Paul facing Glenbrook North at 6:15 p.m. The second game at approximately 8 p.m. has DeLaSalle and talented 6-7 sophomore Michael Shaw facing North Lawndale.
Chasing history: St. Joseph's Gene Pingatore and Rockford Boylan's Steve Goers go into the weekend with 824 career victories. If each of their teams wins twice this weekend they would draw even with IHSA boys career leader Dick Van Scyoc.
That would also put Pingatore in line to pass Van Scyoc next Friday at Carmel, which is now coached by former Pingatore assistant John Ryan.