Glenbard East, Neuqua Valley to hit big stage
The Daily Herald's - and DuPage County's - Nos. 1-2 rated boys basketball teams will appear in the 13th annual High School Hoops Showdown, Saturday at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates.
No. 1 Glenbard East, which dealt No. 2 Neuqua Valley its lone loss of the season to win the championship of the Elgin Holiday Tournament, faces Jacobs in the first game of the tripleheader, at 4:30 p.m.
Jacobs is the winningest Class 4A program over the last three years but has struggled to a 3-11 record this season.
Glenbard East has cruised to a 15-1 record - losing only to Curie, 65-64 - behind the backcourt trio of Zach Miller, Johnny Hill and Jack Merrithey and sleek forward Lee Skinner. All four may again reach double figures Saturday.
An annual Showdown "rivalry" game takes place at 6:30 p.m., between Marmion and Aurora Central Catholic, before the 8:30 p.m. marquee game of Neuqua Valley against West Aurora.
"It's always big when we play West Aurora, always huge. It'll be a big crowd, so it's going to be very exciting," said Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton, whose 17-1 Wildcats just finished 4-0 at Rockton Hononegah's King Classic for the second straight year.
Neuqua and West Aurora have not faced each other in the regular season. They played for a 2008 regional title, Neuqua winning 62-53 with a sophomore named Dwayne Evans scoring a team-high 20 points. He's since committed to St. Louis University and returns against the Blackhawks on Saturday.
"Offensively, they've got people who can knock it down from the outside, and inside (center Kareem) Amedu and Evans are extremely tough. They play good defense," said West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman, whose Blackhawks have won six of their last seven. "They're just a very good basketball team."
Second chances: The fourth annual Interstate Eight Conference Tournament kicks off Friday. Dwight - 18-0 and 6-0 in conference - is the No. 1 seed, but that hasn't meant so much.
"The No. 1 seed has never won the tournament," said Lisle coach Mark LaScala, whose eighth-seeded Lions open against No. 9 Plano. Lisle tuned up with a win Tuesday over Reed-Custer, Marcus Wilson and Chris Wray scoring 21 and 14 points, respectively.
"The Interstate Eight Tournament should feature quite a few close games, even in the early rounds, because of the parity within the league this year," said Craig Etheridge of defending champion Westmont. "Dwight and Herscher are the clear favorites based on their current records. However, Manteno (4-0 in league play), Wilmington, Westmont, Lisle, Sandwich, Seneca and Plano have all shown the potential to pull off a major upset."
LaScala said the I8 tourney "gives a little juice to the end of January," particularly since teams only play one conference game against each other.
So Lisle - with its big four of Wilson, Ryan Liss and Phil Palicka - hopes to move to Saturday's second round at Dwight. Dwight beat the Lions 71-39 on Dec. 8.
"For the teams in the middle of the pack, that might be two, three games removed from the conference race, it might give them something to play for," LaScala said.
That Wheaton thing: Wheaton Academy has victories over Wheaton Warrenville South and Wheaton North under its belt. Saturday the Warriors look to complete a Wheaton sweep when they host St. Francis in the refurbished Warrior Dome.
"We obviously know what they have and it's going to be a challenge for us," said St. Francis coach Shawn Healy. "But I think that's something our kids look forward to."
What Wheaton Academy has is a front line of 6-foot-9 Tim Rusthoven, 6-8 Luke Johnson and 6-4 Anthony Ritchie plus an experienced backcourt headed by Quinn Gorski.
Except for transfer Johnson, all were at St. Francis' Spyglass Gymnasium last year, leading the Spartans 56-49 with 55 seconds left. The victory would cap the Wheaton sweep.
St. Francis had other ideas. The Spartans closed on an 8-0 run, winning 57-55 on Larry Murison's lay-in with eight seconds left.
Murison, coming back from an ankle injury, may see a few minutes Healy said, but 6-4 sophomore Ryan Coyle has come back strong from a thumb injury.
"It's going to be a real test for us," said Wheaton Academy coach Paul Ferguson. "On top of that, our players and their players know each other real well. There's lots of natural rivalry and the whole Wheaton thing."
Three the hard way: The DuPage Valley Conference reaches the midway point of its schedule on Friday, and front-runners Glenbard East (15-1, 6-0) and Wheaton Warrenville South (12-4, 5-1) are trying to make it through the grind.
This weekend marks the third straight doubleheader weekend for both teams, including two straight shootout appearances. WW South, which saw its six-game winning streak snapped Saturday against Downers Grove South, faces West Aurora and Lincoln Park. The Rams, riding a nine-game winning streak, play Wheaton North and Jacobs.
An added tweak in the Tigers' schedule is the timing of the games. They played Downers South at 4:30 p.m. last Saturday and play Lincoln Park at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday.
Shootout season also is bringing a change of scenery. After playing at Downers Grove North, the Tigers travel to North Park University in Chicago.
"It'll be a quick turnaround," said Tigers coach Mike Healy. "But we look at it as a way to get a different atmosphere for the kids, a different venue. So I think our kids are real excited about it."
Straight shooters: Downers Grove South suffered through a miserable performance in last week's 63-40 West Suburban Gold loss to Proviso East.
Poor shooting hammered the Mustangs (9-7, 2-2), highlighted by an 0-of-15 effort from 3-point range. They shot much better in Saturday's 58-53 win over WW South, knocking down 15 of 22 second-half field goals including 7-of-9 fourth-quarter shooting.
"Second game - a hard game - of the weekend," said Mustangs coach Jay Baum. "I guess that speaks a lot to our kids bouncing back after a big loss."