Point guard depth big key in 5-2 start for St. Charles East
This past summer St. Charles East boys basketball coach Patrick Woods had no idea he'd be coaching Dominic Adduci.
He did have an idea of what kind of player the sophomore guard would be.
"I did get to see him play on the AAU circuit in Fort Wayne, so I was familiar with who he was," said Woods. "I thought he was a solid point guard with a lot of potential for a sophomore."
The assessment was right on. Adduci, who Woods said transferred to St. Charles East from Wheaton Academy only a couple days before the fall semester started, has impacted the Saints on several counts.
"He definitely added to our depth that we had already," Woods said of Adduci, who scored a career-high 25 points in the Saints' 56-43 win over Geneva on Dec. 10. Last season he averaged about 2 points and 8 minutes a game as a freshman midseason call-up by Wheaton Academy.
"He's very versatile as far as the guard position. He can play point guard or shooting guard," Woods said.
The coach said the addition of Adduci gives St. Charles East essentially three players capable of playing the point. Charlie Fisher started as a junior and sophomore at the spot and the versatile Kendall Stephens can handle the job.
The presence particularly of Adduci and Fisher make it hard for opponents to focus their defensive pressure on one person handling the ball.
"If someone gets in foul trouble we're not at a loss," Woods added, "because the other one can take over. It's a great situation."
Adjusting to an off-guard role, Fisher has scored 10 points in each of the last two games. In a 68-58 win over Batavia on Dec. 8, Fisher, Adduci, Stephens and forward Johnny Hondlik all scored in double figures for St. Charles East (5-2 overall, 3-0 Upstate Eight River).
Stephens still has the season high with 32 points against Streamwood. Adduci is gaining.
"I wouldn't say I'm surprised with him putting up 25 points," Woods said. "He's capable of it."
East meets West:
Friday's DuPage Valley Conference game against Glenbard North has occupied most of West Aurora coach Gordie Kerkman's time this week.
He still took time to discuss Saturday's game against East Aurora at Northern Illinois University's Convocation Center.
One season after the graduations of Letrell "Snoop" Viser and Connecticut freshman Ryan Boatright, East Aurora is 0-7, compared to West Aurora's 5-1.
"That could be dangerous for us," Kerkman said of what will be the 215th meeting between the district rivals. "I hope our kids don't take them lightly. They're a relatively young team. By that, I mean they don't have a lot of experience."
Tyrone Savage is the lone returning starter for Wendell Jeffries' Tomcats, though forward Larry Reynolds returns following a junior year spent at Wheaton Academy.
Kerkman said this is one of those rivalries where records don't really matter. Last season East beat West 74-66 at East Aurora. In 2010, the first time the series was held at Northern Illinois, West won 72-66.
"I think the last time we played over there it was pretty nice," Kerkman said. "I think the kids like it, the kids on both teams, they get to play on a college floor.
"It wouldn't make any difference to me if we played either here or there, but the last time we played (at NIU) we pulled off what I would consider an upset over what I considered a pretty good East team."
Sports historian Neal Ormond, who will be broadcasting his 106th straight East-West game on WBIG AM-1280, has a whole cache of interesting facts about the series, which is in its 100th year. West won the first game 36-7 on Feb. 7, 1913.
Kerkman will be in his 111th East-West game spanning 50 years as head and assistant coach. As the Blackhawks 36-year head coach he is the winningest coach in the rivalry with a record of 44-29. Jeffries has a mark of 3-10.
Overall, West Aurora holds a series lead of 127-87 over East Aurora.
Walk-up tickets at NIU are priced at $5. The boys sophomore game will start at 5 p.m., followed by girls varsity at 6:30 and boys varsity at 8 p.m.
Early Big 12 East showdown:
Friday's Northern Illinois Big 12 East Conference game between Kaneland and visiting DeKalb may not have the same cachet as it did two years ago, when the Knights' 6-foot-9 Dave Dudzinski went up against DeKalb's 6-10 Jordan Threloff.
(Dudzinski is currently averaging 10 points and 7 rebounds for Holy Cross, while Threloff is averaging 3.2 points and 2.8 rebounds for Illinois State.)
Both Kaneland (5-3, 2-0) and DeKalb are off to 2-0 conference starts, however. Kaneland aims to extend its win streak over the Barbs to three games after taking both contests last season.
"We're excited with the challenge," said Kaneland coach Brian Johnson. "DeKalb's 2-5 on the season, but they've played some good competition."
The Knights, coming off Tuesday's 65-45 win over Hinckley-Big Rock, are getting it done with a 9- to 11-man rotation that has limited foes to just over 50 points a game. Entering the season Johnson said he'd employ a full-court press as much as possible, and that's been the case.
"They're doing a good job, for the most part, of staying within our defensive philosophy and staying in our proper rotations as far as our full-court press is concerned," said Johnson, who stays with the press as long as the fouls don't rack up.
Seniors Marcel Neil and Trever Heinle Heinle and sophomore guard Drew David are the sole returning starters and sophomore guard Thomas Williams lend balanced scoring. Neil is averaging 13.0 points, just above Heinle's 12.9. Williams, 22 of 23 from the foul line, is at 9.3 points. All three also have been active defensively, with at least 15 steals apiece. Heinle's twin brother, Tyler, has added 10 steals coming off the bench.
Several times Johnson used the term, "playing with confidence."
"The last couple of games the boys have really been playing together as a team," the coach said. "They've been playing extremely unselfish basketball on the offensive end of the floor, and defensively we've had a few quarters where we've held teams to 2, 4 points."