Good start keeps Hoffman tied atop MSL West

The Hoffman Estates boys basketball team was concerned about a good start Friday night against visiting Fremd.

"We focused on getting the lead because we knew that Fremd had come out and got a big lead on Conant last week," said Hawks senior guard Luke Mead, who scored a team-high 16 points.

Hoffman showed that focus at the start. The Hawks grabbed an 11-2 lead early in the second quarter.

But Hoffman still had a battle on its hands before securing a 60-52 triumph which kept the Hawks (16-6, 6-2) tied for first in the Mid-Suburban West with Conant (14-5, 6-2).

Fremd (8-12, 4-4) battled back to within 13-11 before the Hawks answered with a driving layup by Tom Dombrowski (6 points), a free throw by Brandon Fischer and a steal and layup by Chris Hall (10 points) to gain a 7-point lead.

"I thought we were very fortunate to come out and get the rebounding edge in the first quarter," said Hawks coach Bill Wandro, whose team hosts Conant next Friday. "I thought we ran our offense much better in the second half. We were a little impatient in the first two quarters."

Mead's crafty move under a defender for a layup gave Hoffman a 22-15 lead at the break.

Fremd never got closer than 5 in the second half.

The Hawks built leads of 10 points three times, the first on a 3-pointer by Kemill Long (7 points) with 4:32 left and the last when Hall made two free throws with 1:38 left for a 50-40 advantage.

Fremd closed to within 54-49 on a pair of free throws by Christopher Klimek with 30 seconds left.

But Hoffman sealed the win with 4 free throws from Mead and 2 from Kevin Tiongson (9 points) in the final 28 seconds.

Klimek led Fremd with 15 points while Daniel Bruno added 10, all in the fourth quarter.

"I thought we got off to a slow start with a lot of shots that went in and out," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "We did a good job battling back but they (Hoffman) did a good job extending the lead in the third period."

Widlowski liked the defense on Mead.

"I thought we did a good job giving him only 4 field goals going into the fourth quarter," the coach said. "Joey DePaolis and Quinton Brown did a nice job on him throughout the game."

Lance Vesper added 11 points for the Hawks.

"I thought our guys off the bench did a nice job," Wandro added. "Kevin (Tiongson) had some big free throws. I thought we played the ball real well. That's a testament to our guards because they (Fremd) did not have a lot of 3-pointers."

"This was a must win for us if we wanted to win the conference," Mead added. "Fremd's a good team and they kept battling back. They play solid defense. They give you a lot of pressure."