Here's a look at some special area holiday hoopla

The traditional feast of holiday hoops and hospitality rooms is over. Now it's time for our sixth annual look back at all the hoopla:

Best storyBarrington limped into the Jacobs Holiday Classic with 4 consecutive losses.The Broncos stormed out of Algonquin with 5 consecutive wins and their first title in the tournament.They won their first three games in pool play by an average of 22 points, but the run figured to end in the semifinals against Zion-Benton and Ohio State recruit Lenzelle Smith.The Broncos had other ideas as they rallied from a 12-point deficit for a 68-64 win. And they sealed the unexpected deal as the Mid-Suburban League's only holiday tourney champion with a 5-point win over St. Charles North.Senior Bryan Wegner continues to be the go-to guy for first-year coach Bryan Tucker. But guys like Greg Gerrard, John Schneider, Ben Bartz, James Stack, Riley O'Daniel, Jack Sheetz and Owen Prunskis made big contributions as well.Already they have passed last year's 7 wins. If they keep this up they'll end up well beyond that total.Best teamWe'll go with the two unbeaten leaders in the MSL - Prospect and Fremd.Prospect was looking for its first tourney title since 1965 but came up short in a 61-44 loss to Deerfield in the title game of Wheeling's Wildcat Hardwood Classic.Fremd suffered its first loss in the Elgin semifinals, falling to unbeaten Neuqua Valley, but the Vikings rebounded to beat Rockford Auburn and finish third.Other team effortsSt. Viator: The Lions were a couple of free throws from beating Deerfield in the Wheeling semis. They bounced back to take third.Hoffman Estates: Came back from a 6-point second-round loss at Elgin and beat Rolling Meadows in OT for fifth place.Leyden: Recovered from a 1-5 start to finish fifth at Lemont after just missing a second-round overtime upset of defending champ Plainfield Central.Top playerCall this one a draw between Wheeling all-tourney picks and point guards Alan Aboona of St. Viator and Joe LaTulip of Prospect.Aboona didn't let a bad break - his nose early in a second-round game - keep him from averaging 18.5 points and 3 assists and hitting nine 3-pointers. He torched Libertyville for 33 points in the third-place game.LaTulip averaged 16 points and 3 assists and nailed 14 3s. He was 6-for-11 behind the arc with 22 points in a semifinal win over Libertyville.Those hoping to see the two teams and guards square off have to wait until Feb. 16 at St. Viator.Best of the restRichie Kemph, Meadows: Repeat Elgin all-tourney pick had 29 points in first-round upset of Batavia and averaged 16.5 points with eight 3s.Chris Klimek, Fremd: Senior also repeated Elgin all-tourney honors by averaging 17.8 points and career-high 27 in third-place game.Zach Monaghan, Fremd: Versatile junior guard averaged 18.5 points as Elgin all-tourney pick.Kevin Mulligan, Buffalo Grove: Hardworking senior guard repeated Elgin all-tourney honors and averaged 14.5 points.Jack Redding, Prospect: Versatile senior swingman averaged 13.3 points and 5.3 rebounds, had 8 assists in the first two games and hit seven 3s for Wheeling all-tourney honors.Brandon Stinson, Leyden: The junior stepped up to average 13.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4 assists and go 13-for-27 on 3s en route to second-team all-tourney honors at Lemont.Kevin Tiongson, Hoffman Estates: All-tourney guard at Elgin averaged 12.8 points and was perfect in 19 free-throw attempts.Bryan Wegner, Barrington: Senior guard averaged 16.2 points and had 18 in semifinal upset of Zion-Benton en route to Jacobs all-tourney honors.Mike Woolf, Leyden: The senior guard earned first-team all-tourney at Lemont after averaging 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3 assists while going 14-for-26 on 3s and shooting 56 percent from the field.Rich value to LionsSome of St. Viator's players wondered why senior forward Richard McLoughlin didn't get all-tourney honors at Wheeling. McLoughlin averaged 14.8 points and 7.8 rebounds for the Lions.Meeting old friendsProspect guards Joe and Mike LaTulip saw some familiar faces before a second-round Wheeling game with Naperville Central. It's where the LaTulips were going to attend high school until the family moved before Joe's freshman year at Prospect.Short wait for revengeAfter Buffalo Grove handled Rolling Meadows 64-49 on Dec. 18 in an MSL East game, they met again five days later at Elgin with Meadows winning 67-51."We knew we wanted to get back at a team that beat us pretty bad," said Meadows senior Kyle Weiner."And we got embarrassed also (in an 87-52 second-round loss to Neuqua Valley) so we needed to come out sharp," said senior Tyler Allen.BG and Meadows play again Jan. 23 and could meet a fourth time in the postseason, which happened to Fremd and Hoffman Estates last year.CondolencesTo Wheeling coach Lou Wool on the passing of his mother Bunny just before the start of the Wheeling tourney after a three-year battle with cancer. Lou Wool is one of the classiest people in coaching and there's no question of the influence of his mom and dad Leon.It's not how you start -Palatine lost fourth-quarter leads and games at York by 7 points in overtime, 1 point to Wheaton Warrenville South and 2 points to Harlan.It is how you start -Maine West had an incredible 25-2 fourth quarter against Carmel in the 13th-place game at Wheeling. The only problem was the game was long lost for the Warriors as they trailed 72-34 after three quarters.Official businessThere is never any shortage of officials in the stands. But Bill Orris went from watching his son Michael play for Palatine in the 13th-place game at York to officiating the 11th-place game which followed.Second to none as usualNo one surpasses the hospitality shown at Wheeling to players, coaches, media and fans. And somehow it continues to get better when you think they can't top themselves from the year before.mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com