Fremd overcomes sluggish start
This was not one of the better beginnings for a Fremd boys basketball team off to one of the best starts in school history.
But the end of the first half was a perfect time for a 10-point run to maintain their perfect start after 10 games.
The Vikings built a 20-point lead in a 75-62 quarterfinal victory over Mid-Suburban League rival Buffalo Grove on Tuesday in the 35th annual Pepsi/Daily Herald Elgin Holiday Boys Basketball Tournament.
"That gave us a lot of momentum and we realized we need to step up and play and good things will happen," said Fremd junior guard Zach Monaghan, who had a game-high 26 points and 4 assists.
"At halftime we knew we had to play defense," said Fremd senior Quinn Williams, who had 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting, "and come out with much more intensity."
The Vikings (10-0) know they have to do that right away in today's 6:30 p.m. semifinal against defending champion Neuqua Valley (9-0), which used a 34-point second quarter to beat Rolling Meadows 87-52.
Neuqua Valley beat Fremd 84-49 in last year's semifinals.
"We just didn't come out ready to play," Monaghan said after hitting 13-of-17 free throws. "I think we were still satisfied with our win (67-50 over Glenbrook South on Monday).
"If we come out and do that (today) we'll get our teeth kicked in."
The Bison (8-3), who have a 3:15 p.m. rematch today of Friday's 64-49 MSL East win over Meadows (4-6), had their running game going early. They led 27-25 with 5:13 left in the first half on a drive by Dan Recht.
"We came out really lackadaisical and that's not what we were looking for," Monaghan said.
A 3-pointer by Kevin Mulligan (15 points) put BG up 32-31 with 2:20 left in the half.
Williams and Charlie Rosenberg (7 points, 8 rebounds) countered with a pair of drives and Monaghan scored the last 6 points of the half to put the Vikings up 41-32.
"Through most of the first half I thought we played pretty well and it was the type of game we wanted to play," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. "We just broke down defensively. Our defense was really poor to close out the first half."
And the Vikings' man-to-man defense kept getting better as they allowed only 8 third-quarter points. BG shot just 9-for-31 from the field after halftime.
"After the first quarter I thought we really settled in and played more solid defense and took better care of the basketball," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "Quinn Williams played well at both ends of the floor. He does a lot of little things many fans don't recognize."
Chris Klimek added 12 points and 7 rebounds for Fremd. Mike Cornely had 12 points and Nick Prus and Jeff Zabrin added 11 each for BG.
"If we're going to beat a team of that size, we need to do a better job of trying to exploit that and use our quickness," O'Connor said. "They're 10-0 for a reason."