Defense, balance power Fremd

Fremd coach Bob Widlowski was extremely happy with his team's defensive effort in the Vikings' 56-46 victory over visiting Huntley on Tuesday in nonconference play.

"I thought the guys did a great job on 'D'," said Widlowski. "We've seen Huntley quite a bit, and they've got some good scorers so to hold them to 20 points in the first half was key."

Senior guard Tyler Brunschon led the Huntley attack with 15 points, while Fremd senior Zach Monaghan followed up Saturday's 38-point, 8-steal effort against Downers Grove South with a game-high 21 points Tuesday, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range.

"Their number 4 (Quinton Brown) and number 23 (Monaghan) scared me," said Huntley coach Marty Manning. "We were determined not to let Monaghan beat us, but he got loose early on some screens for some good looks on 3s.

"If we had done a better job on team defense against him, it might have been a different story."

Jim Scharfe scored 15 points for the Vikings while 6-foot-5 senior Jack Konopka added 13, and that was the difference according to Widlowski.

"We can't count on Zach scoring 38 points every game," said the coach. "We're going to need more balance going forward, and Jimmy and Jack stepped up tonight."

"This was a total team effort," said Monaghan. "We just take what the defense gives us, and Jimmy, Jack and everybody on the team did a great job."

"We had great energy, especially off the bench. We didn't have our band and our cheerleaders tonight so we had to create our own energy and I think we did that."

Fremd (5-4) opened up a big lead early and maintained it through most of three quarters, but Huntley struck back, and a 3 by Brunschon brought the Red Raiders within 6 points with three minutes left in the third.

But Monaghan answered seconds later with a 3 that bounced on the rim and went in, and a layup by Scharfe put the Vikings back up by double digits.

Fremd led 51-34 midway through the fourth quarter, but defensive pressure led to a 3-pointer by Huntley (5-1) junior guard Troy Miller, and layups by Jake Brock and Brunschon put the Red Raiders right back in it.

Then a Brown layup with 2:22 left stemmed the tide and Fremd was able to play keepaway in the final minutes to secure the win.

Brown scored 4 points for the Vikings, while Huntley junior forward Justin Frederick scored 13 points and grabbed 11 boards.

"We did a much better job on offense in the second half," said Manning, "but we couldn't get a stop. We'd cut the lead down and then they'd hit a big shot or a big 3."

Barrington 61, Jacobs 53: It was precisely the hot start host Jacobs wanted against Barrington on a cold Tuesday night, but the finish was more to the Broncos' liking in a 61-53 nonconference victory for the visitors.

The Golden Eagles capitalized on 6 Barrington turnovers in the first quarter to score in transition and from the perimeter as they built an 8-point lead.

However, shortly after Jacobs guard Nick Hofman buried a short baseline jump shot to give him 10 early points and stake his team to a 16-8 cushion, he left the game with an injury to the same surgically repaired knee that forced him to miss his junior season.

Barrington became the aggressor from that point forward, forcing the Golden Eagles into 16 turnovers, the lion's share of which were take-aways on the perimeter. Barrington went on a 16-3 run in the seven minutes following Hofman's departure.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if you take care of the basketball and don't give them easy transition points, you're going to be a little more competitive," said Barrington coach Bryan Tucker, whose team improved to 6-3. "I thought we turned the tables and started attacking them and got some turnovers that turned into points for us. Then we got the lead, got going and kept that margin the rest of the way."

Playing short-handed, the Golden Eagles were nevertheless able to make it a one-possession game twice in the game's final few minutes. Junior forward Alex Glover, who led Jacobs with 14 points, scored from the lane to trim Barrington's lead to 54-51 with 1:17 to play.

But the Broncos responded against Jacobs' half-court trap when guard Brad Zaumseil rifled a pass to Owen Prunskis under the basket for a layup with 53 ticks to go.

After a Jacobs miss at the other end, 6-foot-4 Barrington junior Mark Bennett was fouled and sank a pair from the line to up the lead to 58-51 with 38 seconds to go.

"We were just focused on limiting turnovers and being strong with the ball because they were doing whatever they could to get the ball back," said Bennett, who led all scorers with 15 points.

Zaumseil split 2 free throws and senior guard Tyler Weathered sank a pair from the line to keep Jacobs at bay down the stretch.

Jerry Fitzpatrick

St. Viator 56, Palatine 40: St. Viator's boys basketball winning streak reached seven games with its 56-40 win over visiting Palatine in a non-conference game Tuesday at Cahill Gym in Arlington Heights.

The Lions (7-0) received 22 bench points in their win over the 4-5 Pirates.

"Our bench players are coming through for us," said Lions coach Joe Majkowski. "We thought we had good depth when the season started and it shows. Our second group gets out there and does the right things for us."

Leading 18-14 with 5:03 left in the second quarter, St. Viator reserve guard Quinn Murray (7 points) helped get things started with a 3-pointer. The basket ignited a Lions' 14-2 run to finish the half and increased the lead to 32-16.

Brian Wilhite (9 points) came off the bench to toss in a 3-pointer and a basket during the streak. St. Viator also hit all 6 of its free throws to finish the quarter.

"On any given night anyone of us (reserves) can have a big night," said Murray. "My role is to be a hustle guy and make things happen. I want to fit into my role.

"If my shot comes and I'm in position I take it. As a junior last year we learned a lot from the seniors. We want to pass that on to the juniors."

The Pirates played more inspired in the second half with Peter Bony collecting 14 of his 18 points to go along with 6 rebounds. John Millin followed up Bony with 11 points and 7 rebounds.

"Against good teams like St. Viator, you have to be prepared to play all 32 minutes," said Palatine coach Eric Millstone. "They did a good job spreading out our defense. We gave them some good looks but they earned a lot of them too. They had us back on our heels to start the game."

St. Viator started out with a hot hand with an 8-0 run to open the game. Palatine closed the gap to 12-8 to finish the quarter. The Pirates stayed close until Murray started the run for the Lions.

D.J. Morris and Kevin Walsh each scored 13 points for St. Viator.

"This was probably the best fundamental game we had running our offense," said Majkowski. "Our success has been because all the players play together. The players want to play well and the wins are a byproduct of that determination."

Greg Swiderski