West Chicago takes 2nd straight

West Chicago's boys basketball team came to the Glenbard West Holiday Classic without a win.

The Wildcats, following their second straight victory, will end the tournament playing for third place.

Continuing their recent mini-roll, West Chicago closed strong to beat Fenton 47-39 in Tuesday's final round of pool play in Glen Ellyn.

The Wildcats (2-10) will play Timothy Christian at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the third-place game. Fenton (5-7) faces Addison Trail at 4:30 p.m. in the fifth-place game.

Glenbard West, despite Tuesday's loss to Nazareth, plays Wheaton Academy for the championship at 8 p.m.

"It took us a little while to settle down and build a little confidence," said Wildcats coach Kevin Baldus. "Getting healthy and having everyone back, we're starting to look like the team we expected to be."

Charles Jacques, who missed four games with an ankle injury near the start of the season, certainly looked in form. He knocked down five 3-pointers while scoring a game-high 24 points.

The 6-foot-6 senior, who pulled down 11 rebounds, scored 10 points in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats pulled away. Capping a 16-3 run, started by a steal and layup by Lamar Moore near the end of the third quarter, Jacques converted a three-point play to put his team comfortably ahead 40-29 with 4:18 left in the game.

"We knew it was going to be a tough quarter, and we shut them down and put the game away," Jacques said. "We were at a point in the game where we had a lead and we had to solidify it. That's what we did."

Fenton held a slim lead several times through the first three quarters, but dismal shooting doomed the Bison. Twenty-nine percent shooting for the game culminated in a rough 4-of-14 fourth-quarter performance.

The 3-point play by Jacques turned out to be West Chicago's final field goal, but the Wildcats made just enough free throws in the final 2:20 - 7 of 13 - to hold off the Bison.

Dan Montano led a balanced Fenton offense with 10 points. Vince Esposito hit three 3-pointers while adding 9 points.

"The game was going to come down to who was going to make a little bit of a run," said Fenton coach Dennis Cromer. "And it wasn't going to take much of a run because neither team was doing much offensively. To their credit they played good defense and hit some shots when they had to."