Neuqua Valley turns away Fremd in Elgin semi

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 (31-for-51) as Kyle Pembrook scored 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting and 3-for-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 (18-for-60) and 33 percent on free throws (14-for-33).

"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 seven-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 (21 points) 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 which 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."