Defensive commitment lifts Fremd

Fremd used a lock-down defensive effort and superior play in the paint to score a win over Mid-Suburban League rival Elk Grove at the Chuck Mitchell Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Vikings held the Grenadiers to 13 first-half points en route to a 52-35 victory at the 26th annual Fenton Invitational in Bensenville.

Fremd shook off the effects of a tough 3-point loss to Lake Park on Monday to rebound and improve to 1-1 on the year.

“I actually thought we played good defense in both games,” said Vikes coach Bob Widlowski. “The difference tonight was that we combined great defense with much better execution.”

Fremd senior guard Garrett Peters scored a game high 15 points, while Anthony Jiminez led the Grens with 9.

The Vikings held Elk Grove junior guard Austin Amann, who poured in 27 points in the Grens’ Monday night win over Fenton, to just 3 Tuesday.

“He (Amann) was our focus tonight,” said Widlowski, “and Matt Wisniewski and Sean Benka combined to a nice job on him.”

“We did focus on him,” said Peters, “but we also didn’t want their big guys to hurt us, so we also focused on boxing out and doing the job inside.”

Fremd 6-foot-6 senior forward Adam Gorecki scored all 11 of his points in the first half as the Vikings, who finished the game with a resounding advantage on the glass, jumped to a 30-13 halftime lead.

Fremd led by 23 at one point in the second half but a barrage of Grenadiers 3-pointers, including 3 from Jiminez, saw Elk Grove cut the lead to 42-30 early in the fourth quarter.

“We put some things together and we started to believe,” said Elk Grove (1-1) coach Anthony Furman. “We’ve just got to start to believe a little earlier in the game against a good team like Fremd.”

Elk Grove had the chance to cut the lead even further but a couple of missed layups hurt; then a 4-point play from Peters with 3:52 remaining put the game out of reach.

Sophomore forward Ben Carlson scored 9 points and grabbed 7 boards for the Vikes while teammate Gorecki also had 7 rebounds.

Zach Solorio added 8 points for Elk Grove.

“Fremd’s defense is solid,” said Furman. “They took us out of everything we wanted to do in the first half.

“We had a nice run late, but that’s something I expect to see the entire game.”