Once again, Frederking delivers under pressure
After sinking the winning basket Friday with three seconds left against DeKalb, Geneva senior Christian Frederking didn't have to think long about his previous game-winner.
It came two years ago in a sophomore game, in the best atmosphere sophomores play in all season - holding court before the Batavia-Geneva game in front of a packed gym.
Frederking was fouled with no time left and the score tied, and he made the second free throw to win the game.
"That was pretty intense," Frederking said. "I could feel it shaking, but it still felt great to get this (DeKalb) too."
Frederking was quick to thank Jeremy D'Amico for the screen that freed him into the lane for the final basket in a 42-40 victory.
"I have to give (D'Amico) a lot of credit," Frederking said. "We didn't have a set play, we were just going to try to take it to the basket hard, either get fouled or get a layup."
No DeKalb player got close enough to foul Frederking, or even contest his coast-to-coast drive for the winning basket.
"We talk about the baseball rule on a pop fly, you don't say, 'You got it, you got it,' you say, 'I got it.' We said 'You got him' and he gets all the way to the basket," DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman said. "That's just a mistake we have to learn from."
Geneva and Batavia both hope DeKalb learns from that mistake and takes out its frustration on Western Sun leader Glenbard South Friday night in DeKalb. A Raider loss in that game could create a three-way share of the conference title between Glenbard South, DeKalb and whomever wins Friday night's Geneva-Batavia game.
The Vikings will be short-handed against Batavia, and possibly the rest of the season. Brandon Beitzel broke his foot against Rochelle and likely is done for the year.
North Stars in demand: Anyone waiting to talk to St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin after games this winter has noticed something.
Better get in line.
It's not uncommon to see one or two or sometimes more college coaches waiting to say hi to Poulin. There's three seniors on the North Stars - Nick Neari, Jonathan DeMoss and Mike Kastel - who have a lot of CCIW and Division III schools in Wisconsin hoping they'll come play at their college next year.
"It's a compliment to them and their work ethic," Poulin said of his seniors.
Neari in particular has been in demand with his strong play as the year has gone on.
"The interest has gone up," Poulin said. "Now they are really pursing him instead of communicating with him."
The North Stars have won 10 straight games to improve to 17-5, tying a school record for wins, but Poulin prefers to look at it as 2-0 in February after weekend wins over Waubonsie Valley and Johnsburg.
"We're trying to stay hungry and play basketball in March," Poulin said. "We are really telling guys 'one game at a time.' We wanted to start a new streak with Waubonsie."
Help inside: Batavia got a lift this weekend from reserve big man Levi Maxey, who came in Saturday against West Aurora and blocked 2 shots and grabbed 5 rebounds.
On Friday against Glenbard South, Maxey scored 4 points in the Bulldogs' 71-57 win over the Western Sun leaders.
"Levi had a good weekend," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. "He's long-limbed, he uses his limbs. He's active and did a nice job."
Junior Ricky Clopton, who pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds against West Aurora, appreciated the added help inside.
"Levi came huge off the bench, real aggressive, grabbed some big boards," Clopton said.
Nobody is doing a better job on the boards for Batavia than their point guard, 6-foot-4 David Bryant. He had 24 rebounds in their two wins last weekend.
"I've always felt I could rebound the ball," Bryant said. "In (our) 2-3 zone all those long rebounds come out and you've got to find a guy to box and get the rebound."