Scouting Christian Liberty boys basketball in Class 1A tournament
Class 1A regional
Where: Westminster Christian, Elgin
When: First-round games 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; semifinals 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; championship 7:30 p.m. Friday.
What to watch: Third-seed Christian Liberty (13-9) gets its first shot at playing in the IHSA state tournament with a third shot against No. 6 Alden-Hebron (6-21) at 8 p.m. Wednesday. "It's a historic moment for us," CLA coach Ken Kramer said of playing a school known for winning arguably the most historic state title in 1952. The two teams split their meetings in December - CLA winning the first 47-41 and losing the second 51-39. "The first time we were able to stop their big guy (Jared Hilton, 12.8 ppg)," Kramer said. "If we can stop him they we've pretty much got them stopped. Defensively we weren't there (in the loss) and had a bad mental game." CLA does have 6-2 senior Aaron Johnson (9 ppg) back from missing two games with injury and sophomore Luke Comerouski (15.5 ppg) has been red-hot the last five weeks. Sophomore Gabe Clayborne (8.5 ppg), junior Mike Hennek (8 ppg) and senior Nathan Elleson are also threats.
A Christian Liberty win would probably put it in the Thursday semifinal against No. 2 Chicagoland Jewish Academy. Top-seed Westminster Christian (20-8) is going for its second regional title in three years and rolled Roycemore 76-10 Monday for its 14th win in 16 games. North Shore Country Day, which came back to beat Christian Liberty 61-55 on Jan. 20, is the fourth seed and won its opener 72-38 over Elgin Academy.
Advancement: Winner advances to the Somonauk sectional.