Vikes connect early, then finish off Larkin

Fremd is not taking anyone lightly in a boys basketball season filled with heavyweights on its schedule.

The Vikings showed it Tuesday night as they scored 17 of the first 19 points in a 72-51 nonconference win over visiting Larkin in Palatine.

"After our slow start we had to take every game (seriously)," said Fremd junior Chris Klimek, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds. ""We try to come out really hard for everybody and we showed it today."

Sophomore Zach Monaghan scored the game's first 8 points and 14 of his 18 points by halftime as the Vikings (7-9) led 44-23 in their fourth straight win.

Monaghan and senior Dan Bruno (16 points) had 4 assists apiece as they continued their resurgence from an 0-7 start.

"They did a nice job of getting me open," Monaghan said after hitting all four of his 3-pointers while making his first 5 shots. "Klimek and Will (Reising) set some good screens and Bruno was able to get me the ball. We had real good teamwork going in the first half."

So good the Vikings shot 58 percent (18-for-31) and were just 6 points shy of their season scoring average at the break. They matched their highest point total since beating Bronzeville 72-24 on Dec. 26, 2006.

"That was the smoothest our offense has looked," Klimek said, "and we did a nice job on defense to force easy transition points on offense."

When the Vikings did miss they cashed in for 19 points off misses. They finished with a 30-19 rebound advantage on Larkin (6-10), which got a game-high 20 points from Terell John.

"If we're going to be physical we need to send guys to the free-throw line," said Larkin coach Larry Hight. "We tried to jump with them and we can't.

"We needed to put bodies on them and we stopped those easy bunnies in the second half."

But the damage was already done as 2 offensive rebounds by Reising and another by Joey Depaolis led to Monaghan's first two 3s.

Klimek had 3 rebound baskets and Charlie Rosenberg (7 points, 6 rebounds) and Jamieson Gray scored off misses.

"Will set the tone with his offensive rebounds," Widlowski said. "That's something we're trying to emphasize and get better at."