Elgin tournament roundup
Fremd took some of the best shots possible at Neuqua Valley in their unbeaten showdown Wednesday night.
But the Vikings couldn't knock down close to enough of them to knock out the defending champions of the 35th annual Pepsi/Daily Herald Elgin Boys Holiday Basketball Tournament.
And Neuqua Valley senior Kareem Amedu missed only 1 of his 11 shots for 21 points in a 71-55 victory over the Vikings at Chesbrough Field House.
"I felt ready to play," the 6-foot-5 Amedu said. "Coach (Todd Sutton) talked about how those Fremd boys are really big and play physical and we wanted to come out and play hard."
The Wildcats (10-0) shot 58.5 percent from the field as Kyle Pembrook scored 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and 3-of-4 on 3-pointers. St. Louis recruit Dwayne Evans had 13 points and 17 rebounds as they never trailed en route to Saturday's 8 p.m. title game against Glenbard East (10-1), a 71-57 winner over Rockford Auburn.
Fremd (10-1) will play for third place at 6:30 p.m. despite committing only 10 turnovers, attacking the basket and getting to the free-throw line.
But the Vikings shot just 30 percent from the field and 33 percent on free throws.
"We have to make free throws, especially me," said Fremd senior Chris Klimek, who had 14 points and 14 rebounds but missed all 9 of his free throws. "I take a lot of blame for that. I wasn't the only one, but I need to make more."
Amedu believes the Wildcats' height, length and athletic ability has something to do with opposing offenses having an altered state in the paint.
"With me and Dwayne, he has a 7-foot wingspan so he alters a lot of shots," Amedu said. "It was a big help since they got a lot of offensive boards (21 of Fremd's overall 42-25 rebound edge)."
Consecutive 3-pointers by Zach Monaghan and Klimek helped Fremd get within 32-28 with 27 seconds left in the half. Evans' driving jumper and two-hand slam off a Rahjan Muhammad lob started a 13-point run that put Neuqua ahead by double figures the rest of the way.
"It was the first time we really experienced it where we had no one on the same page defensively," Klimek said.
"The final score isn't indicative of how we battled and withstood their second-quarter run," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "We can't have those breakdowns against a team of this quality.
"We have to get all five guys having the correct rotations because they have five guys on the floor who can score and they did a nice job of that."
Glenbard East 71, Rockford Auburn 57: Glenbard East looked like it was well on its way to a loss after a listless, turnover-plagued first quarter against Rockford Auburn in the Elgin Holiday Tournament semifinals.
Funny what a 17-point run can do for a team.
Fueled by pinpoint 3-point shooting, a renewed defense and great work on the glass by senior Lee Skinner and junior Jon Hill, the Rams turned a 17-6 deficit into a 23-19 lead only four minutes into the second quarter.
Skinner had 15 points and 13 rebounds, Hill added 14 points and 8 boards, and guard Zach Miller scored a game-high 22 points as Glenbard pulled away late to defeat the Knights 71-57 Wednesday night.
The Rams will play Neuqua Valley in the title game at 8 p.m. Saturday.
So what happened in that first quarter, when Glenbard East looked nothing like the team that had defeated Larkin by 35 points Tuesday in the quarterfinals?
"We came out flat, with no answers and no energy," Miller said. "That's what we talked about after the first quarter and even at halftime - picking up our energy, letting our defense lead our offense, and regaining our focus."
The Rams were able to do just that, holding Auburn scoreless thru the first four minutes of the second quarter while scoring 17 straight, including a couple of 3s from Miller.
Two more 3-pointers from guard Jack Merrithey helped lead Glenbard to a 32-25 halftime lead.
"We're an unselfish team," Skinner said. "We're a family and we focus on team chemistry, and we used that to bounce back."
Glenbard East (10-1) maintained a healthy lead until the 4th quarter when Auburn, behind Joseph Danforth and Fred VanVleet crept to within 6 points late.
But Hill stemmed the tide with a rebound and putback then after a Rams steal, Hill was fouled and hit 2 free throws to push the lead to 63-53 and put the game away.
Shawn Havenga added 5 points for the Rams.
"We did not get off to a good start," said Glenbard East coach Scott Miller. "To Auburn's credit, they were able to hit some shots early. But we tightened it up, and switched up our defense which limited them to one shot (each possession)."
Elgin 57, Guilford 54: You'd figure a six-game losing skid and an 8:45 a.m. start would be a horrible combination for Elgin, but two wrongs made a right and a strong third quarter from the Maroons helped snap their streak as they defeated Rockford Guilford 57-54 at the Elgin Holiday Tournament on Wednesday.
Elgin (3-8) led by as many as 6 when Kory Brown (15 points, 9 boards) sank a 3-pointer 2:30 in the second quarter, but trailed at the half 23-22 after an 8-1 Guilford run in the final 2 minutes. But Brown and Brandon Baymon combined for 14 of Elgin's 24 third-quarter points to take a 46-36 lead into the fourth.
"We knew exactly what we had to do, I just said, I'm not going to coach you, go out and play by yourselves and do what you're supposed to do. That first group in the third quarter did it," Maroons coach Mike Sitter said. "If you notice, we didn't sub in the third quarter until just about two minutes left, took a couple timeouts there because they were doing a good job and those who play well are going to play a lot and that was kind of the reward for them, to not come out of the game."
Elgin slowed the pace in the third and penetrated inside. Baymon's backdoor cut began the quarter and Brown's putback a minute later gave Elgin a 26-23 lead. With 5:34 left, Jordan Dean's steal and breakaway extended the lead to 4. Dean also hit a 3-pointer on the next possession, and then Brown's layup with 3:02 remaining had Elgin up 10. His pretty spin to the glass with 1:30 left capped a 15-4 run, giving Elgin its largest lead of 13.
"Usually we're a quick team and people catch on to that. So we slowed it down a little and got some easy buckets like that," Baymon said.
"That's something you don't get to practice too much, the delay game," Sitter added. "Telling athletic kids to slow down, is tough. It's very tough. They only know how to go one speed. But, we're learning how to slow it down."
Elgin forced 14 turnovers and won the rebounding battle 39-28. Guilford grabbed and 18-16 advantage on the offensive glass and built an 8-4 run in the fourth with baskets by Alonte Holliday (18 points) and Quavion Kimble (13 points, 6 rebounds) which cut the Maroon lead to 6 with 2:30 remaining.
Guilford shot 21 of 54 from the field and nothing fell late, allowing Elgin to put away the game at the charity stripe.
"We play in streaks and were trying to find a high level of play consistently," Sitter said. "It was nice to put together four good quarters because earlier in this tournament, we played with anybody in the first half then we'd kind of lose our focus."
Batavia 67, Highland Park 58: Through the years Batavia has learned a lot about itself at the Elgin Holiday Tournament, which included the 2005 and 2007 titles.
The lessons are starting to take shape again in 2009, and once again there's a lot to like.
Ricky Clopton's 28 points and 13 rebounds powered Batavia to a 67-58 win over Glenbrook South Wednesday. It was the Bulldogs' second straight victory after a disappointing loss to Geneva last Friday and a narrow defeat to Rolling Meadows Monday.
"It was a big lift this week, we needed it after our two-game slide," junior guard Jesse Coffey said. "We came out with a lot more energy I thought today against a better team too."
The Bulldogs also got double-digit production from Coffey and Elliot Vaughn, 10 rebounds by Adam LeTourneau and 11 bench points by Sam Shump and Cole Gardner. They outshot, outrebounded and led the Titans by as many as 17 points late in the fourth quarter.
Batavia (7-4) will play for the consolation championship at 3:15 p.m. against Highland Park, a team led by former Bull Toni Kukoc's son Marin, a 6-foot-7 senior.
"We did a good job playing off each other," Batavia coach Jim Roberts said. "Rick was huge in the middle part of the game but he also dumped down for some nice looks for Elliot and Cole."
Glenbrook South (3-7) led 17-13 after the first quarter before the Bulldogs quickly took control in the second. Clopton started it with a basket, then found Coffey for a 3-pointer that gave Batavia an 18-17 lead it never relinquished.
Clopton poured in 18 points in the first half, which ended with Batavia leading 33-25.
"I felt pretty good warming up," Clopton said. "We did a real good job running certain sets to get me the ball in the right spots. The guys did a good job of feeding me. I was feeling a little hot. It was good to keep it going and get a win."
The Titans got as close as 45-41 in the second half before Coffey's two free throws put Batavia ahead 47-41 after three quarters.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 63-46 with two minutes remaining. The Titans sent an extra defender at Clopton much of the fourth quarter. While that prevented Clopton from attempting a shot in the final eight minutes, he did hit all four of his free throws.
He also found Shump for a 3-pointer, LeTourneau twice assisted Gardner for easy baskets and Coffey made a strong drive for a three-point play as Batavia played a near perfect stretch until a late 10-0 Titans burst made the final score closer.
"That's (the Geneva loss) motivation for us to get better and play harder," Coffey said. "It shows us where we need to be. Shows us how much harder we have to work."
Jack Ryan led the Titans with 19 points and Corey McMahon added 15.
"We hung in there with them and defensively fought them pretty hard," Roberts said. "It was a big win for us."
Meadows 67, Buffalo Grove 51: Rolling Meadows had high hopes of seniors Tyler Allen and Kyle Weiner playing big roles this season.
The Mustangs hope their best games of the season in Wednesday's 35th annual Pepsi/Daily Herald Elgin Boys Holiday Basketball Tournament is an encouraging sign.
Weiner and Allen had career-highs of 14 and 10 points respectively as Meadows (5-6) beat Mid-Suburban East rival Buffalo Grove 67-51 and reversed a loss last Friday.
"Coach (Kevin Katovich) always talks about it can't just be Richie (Kemph) going off for 40 (points)," Allen said. "All of us need to contribute and if we do that we'll be good for the second half."
Kemph scored 12 of his game-high 17 in the second quarter but the third of Weiner's four 3-pointers put Meadows ahead to stay at 27-26 and on its way to Saturday's 5 p.m. fifth-place game against Hoffman Estates.
"We know what we can do," Weiner said. "I've been waiting for this game since last spring when I broke my wrist. I'm glad today finally came."
Brian Nelms added 10 points and seniors Jimmy Garoppolo and Dan Lowry also played key roles as Meadows avenged a 64-49 loss to the Bison. Kevin Mulligan had 15 points and Nick Prus and Mike Cornely had 12 each as they'll play Larkin for seventh at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
"I really thought we played pretty hard," said BG coach Ryan O'Connor. "We just didn't play very smart and didn't play confidently."
Hoffman Estates 61, Larkiin 46: Seeing double was a welcome sight for Hoffman Estates' boys basketball team.
For the first time all season the Hawks were in a game which ended with a double-digit margin as they beat Larkin 61-46 on Wednesday in the 35th annual Pepsi/Daily Herald Elgin Boys Holiday Basketball Tournament.
"It was nice to at least get a good lead to know we can play some of our bench players," said 6-foot-7 Lance Vesper with a smile after Hoffman led by double figures the last 191/2 minutes and by as much as 23 points. "I know the bench wanted to get in the game."
Hoffman (7-4) was on its game to play Rolling Meadows for fifth at 5 p.m. Saturday as it limited its turnovers to 15 with Kevin Tiongson scoring a game-high 18 points on 4-for-5 3-point shooting. Vesper had 16 points on 8-for-10 from the field and 7 rebounds and got solid help inside from John Bialek and Colin Conway.
"We really worked in practice this morning on getting the ball inside," Vesper said. "I thought we had that advantage the whole game."
Thomas Iheme added 9 points off the bench and helped Brandon Fischer and Jimmy Fabbrini hold Larkin senior Ryan Smith to 7 points on 3-for-8 shooting.
"I thought our guys played 'D,' especially Fischer," said Hoffman coach Bill Wandro. "(Smith) can fill it up."
Ramadan Adili had 14 points to lead Larkin (7-5), which plays Buffalo Grove for seventh at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
"We have to get back to what we were doing earlier this season to be successful - relying on energy and effort," said Larkin coach Deryn Carter. "We have to hang our hat on playing harder than our opponent."
Marty Maciaszek, John Lemon, Steve Nichols and Bill Esbrook contributed to this report