Monaghan back, but Fremd falls

Exactly one week after one of the scariest moments of his young life, Fremd senior Zach Monaghan was back doing what he loves to do and where he loves to be on Thursday.

Monaghan missed four games after he was injured in an auto accident after practice with teammate Joe Leaf. But the South Dakota State-bound guard saw a doctor Thursday morning and was cleared to play in the Vikings' final game of the 36th annual Elgin Holiday boys basketball tournament at Chesbrough Field House a 68-64 loss for fifth place to Las Vegas Centennial.

Monaghan may have looked different when he entered with 1:45 left in the first quarter as he wore a protective plastic mask he called "pretty annoying" to protect a seven-stitch gash near his nose. But the sweet shooting stroke looked as good as ever as he buried his first shot attempt from behind the 3-point arc on a feed from Quinton Brown.

There was no Hollywood ending with Monaghan triumphantly making a dramatic buzzer-beating shot for Fremd (8-6). But it was a heart-warming return for Monaghan as he scored a game-high 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field and 5-for-8 behind the 3-point arc.

"It was good to have Zach back," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski of the three-year starter and all-area pick last year. "We're lucky to have him back for the season at all let alone tonight. We're thankful to have him back."

Which isn't an overstatement considering the passenger side of the car where Monaghan was sitting was totaled. He was knocked unconscious and also needed to have shards of glass removed from his head.

"The paramedic on the scene thought there was a fatality when he showed up," Monaghan said. "Everyone thought it should have been a lot worse than it was."

Monaghan said the doctor wanted him to wait until next week to return but said he could play as long as he wore his mask. He came in before they watched film to get used to shooting with the mask - which he showed wasn't a problem.

"I was more open than I thought I'd be," Monaghan said. "I thought, 'why not' and see what happens. It went in and that was good to see."

Monaghan played for about four minutes to see how he felt, came out and told Widlowski he was fine and then returned about a minute-and-a-half later. He started the second half and hit 6 of his first 7 shots and all four of his 3s the last one getting Fremd within 63-62 with 2:15 to play. But Centennial (10-2), which is ranked in the top 10 in Nevada, scored the next 5 points as Aaseem Dixon finished with 18.

"It was a tough night - we couldn't get a stop," Monaghan said. "Their quickness caused us some problems at the defensive end," Widlowski said. "We tried several different things to slow them down.

"I don't think we were consistent enough defensively. I like the way we're playing competitively and defensively except for some spurts tonight."

Senior Jack Konopka had 19 points and 5 rebounds to cap a strong four-game performance where he earned all-tourney honors. Senior Quinton Brown had 8 points and 4 assists and made the all-tourney team, Jim Scharfe had 6 points and 3 assists and Ken Leonard had 7 rebounds and 5 assists.

The 6-7 Leaf was able to return after missing one game and the Vikings are also expected to get junior Garrett Peters, a varsity reserve last year, back in January from a foot injury that has kept him out all season.

"We're coming together," Monaghan said. "It's normal with the season with any team, it will take a little time to jell. With the injuries we've had it will take a little longer."

Fortunately for Monaghan, his absence wasn't as long or as devastating as it could have been.

Meadows 79, BG 67: For the second straight year Rolling Meadows (5-8) avenged a Mid-Suburban East loss at Elgin as 6-6 senior Paul Volkman scored a career-high 32 points in the seventh-place game. All-tourney pick Tyler Gaedele added 16 points and hit four 3s, Brian Nelms scored 14 and Eric Lowe had 10 points.

"It was as well as we've played all year," Meadows coach Kevin Katovich said of reversing a 56-47 loss on Dec. 9. "Obviously after (two losses) we challenged them a little bit and we challenged Paul and he responded. Brian and Eric did a nice job running the show for us and it's what we've been talking about doing all year.

"It was a good way to end the tournament. We finally put together four quarters of what we wanted to do."

Jeff Zabrin had 20 points and Richie Zirngibl added 17 as BG (8-5) lost its third straight and played its second straight game without 6-7 Sam Wacker (ankle). All-tourney pick Nick Prus was held to 3 first-half points by Lowe and didn't play in the second half.

This was Meadows final appearance at Elgin as it is going to a new tournament at Hinsdale South next year.

Hoffman 50, Guilford 45: Hoffman Estates (3-9) came into Elgin with only 1 win but left at 2-2 after winning the 13th-place game. Austin Terry led the Hawks with 16 points and was 13-for-14 at the free-throw line and Alex Bonds and Mark Roberts added 10 points apiece.