Johnsburg sacks Rams in 3A sectional semifinal

One Bear and one bear-sized kid greeted each other and slapped paws.

Following Johnsburg's 57-45 win over Gordon Tech in Tuesday night's second Class 3A boys basketball sectional semifinal at Vernon Hills, C.J. Fiedorowicz of the victors walked halfway up the bleachers and met Chicago Bears defensive end Alex Brown.

Brown happens to be a friend of the family of Johnsburg junior guard Mike Dombrowski.

"I was taller than him," said Fiedorowicz, a 6-foot-6 senior who will play tight end for Iowa. "He was wider than me."

Fiedorowicz's smile was wider. His 20 points and 11 rebounds helped lift Johnsburg (27-2) into Friday's 7:30 p.m. sectional final against St. Viator (23-6), which beat North Chicago 82-64.

While Fiedorowicz and senior guard Mike Dixon (16 points, 3 steals) are both four-year varsity starters, the two have never won a sectional. Johnsburg, in fact, has played in only two other sectional finals (in 2006 and 2003).

The Skyhawks outlasted a Gordon Tech team that entered the game with a 10-19 record.

"We knew they had a lot of athletic guys," Fiedorowicz said. "We didn't watch much film on them, but we knew they were in a hard conference (Chicago Catholic League), so their record didn't really matter."

Johnsburg led 43-29 after three quarters and still by 12 until a 3-pointer by Alex Retamozo (12 points, three 3s) with four minutes left started a 6-0 run by the Rams.

But Dixon broke Gordon Tech's press after 2 free throws by Martell Moore (20 points) cut Johnsburg's lead to 48-42 with 2:17 to go. Dixon then fed a bounce pass to Fiedorowicz, who finished at the basket.

"That was a huge momentum-changer," Dixon said. "In a tight game like that, you just need to keep your composure, and we did. We ran our press breaker the right way."

Dombrowski (7 rebounds) and Tyler Chambers added 8 and 7 points, respectively, for Johnsburg, which took control of the game by outscoring Gordon Tech 15-4 in the second quarter.

That proved to be the difference.

"No lead is safe in the postseason when you're playing teams with seniors, because they don't want to stop playing," Johnsburg coach Luke Ravlin said. "You'll see them hit big shots that you wouldn't necessarily expect. We saw it against Lakes (last) Friday (a 60-58 win) and then again tonight."