Time to size up the second half

Along with providing exotic locales such as Plano and Pontiac, holiday basketball tournaments offer a midterm checkup before conference schedules fully kick in.

Some local boys basketball teams will kick it in right quick.

"After taking third at Plano, I think the kids are pretty motivated going into conference to keep improving, but also will come out ready to play," said Brian Johnson, whose Kaneland squad (9-4) landed forward Marcel Neil on the Plano all-tournament team after a 3-1 finish.

"We have a tough one against Yorkville on Friday and they beat us at Plano, so we want to come back and be more competitive than what we showed at Plano."

The Knights are 3-0 in conference, atop the Northern Illinois Big 12 East to Yorkville's 1-2. Should Yorkville force Kaneland into playing too fast for its own good, as Johnson said happened at Plano, the Knights will find themselves back in the mix with 2-1 Rochelle and DeKalb. Kaneland might have to do it without senior Trever Heinle, who DeKalb fouled hard prior to the Plano tourney and missed the Knights' third-place game to heal his shoulder and neck.

"We got the basketball in areas where they were hot trap areas and we just made poor decisions," Johnson said of the Yorkville game, which also featured less than favorable shot selection due to Yorkville's pressure.

"It's an extremely important game," the coach said. "Everyone's still in the thick of it, even if they have two losses."

There are other fast tests. On Thursday Marmion off its runner-up finish at DeKalb visits Aurora Christian in the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division, and Batavia hosts Elgin in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division.

"I think we did some things that hopefully will carry over," said Batavia coach Jim Roberts, 2-2 at the Elgin tourney.

"We came back from a pretty sizable deficit in the first ballgame (against Rockford East) and were able to get the job done," said the Hall of Famer. "In the second game we had a grind-out win (over Buffalo Grove). In the third game we played a team (LaLumiere, Ind.) with great size and great speed, and in the fourth game we played a (Neuqua Valley) team that shot the ball extremely well. So we probably saw quite a few aspects of high school basketball in a very short period of time."

With Cole Gardner and Zach Strittmatter fully into basketball mode after a long football season, Batavia (4-7, 1-2) is ready for the rigors of conference. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs will initially be without guard Jake Pollack, who twisted an ankle against Neuqua Valley and will see his doctor next week for re-evaluation.

After Elgin, Batavia visits Proviso East, undefeated winner of the vaunted Proviso West tourney, on Saturday.

"I can't think of a time since we've been here that we've played in back-to-back games two teams that won their respective Christmas tournaments, so without question it'll provide a very big challenge for our kids," Roberts said.

The entire UEC River should be a parity-driven challenge. Elgin was the favorite going in and probably remains so, though at 2-1 both the Maroons and Geneva each trail 3-1 St. Charles East.

A credit to the Phil Ralston's coaching and Geneva personnel such as Brendan Leahy and Mark Becker guard Phil Lorenz was out but returned to action at the East Aurora tournament the Vikings entered the Dec. 2 Elgin game with a 1-3 overall record and won 66-64 in overtime. Friday, Geneva (7-6) visits Larkin (7-5, 1-1), which started fast but has since slowed.

As far as St. Charles East (8-4) goes, the Saints hope to put some distance between what coach Patrick Woods believed was a subpar performance at the Glenbard West Holiday Classic as well as their last conference game, a 55-39 loss to Elgin on Dec. 16.

"It's encouraging in that aspect," Woods said after all-tourney pick Kendall Stephens, guard Dom Adduci and forward Johnny Hondlik produced a 3-1 mark and fifth place finish at Glenbard West, "because if we can get it together we're going to be a real tough team down the road."

On Saturday the Saints travel to crosstown rival St. Charles North, which went 2-3 at Jacobs but remains solidly in the UEC River mix at 2-2. The North Stars, who had center Kyle Nelson among the honorable-mentions at their second holiday tournament, at Pontiac, also return starter Jason Weinzirl from a torn ACL last June.

"We've done a lot of work toward preparing ourselves to be successful here in what I guess you could call the second half of the season," said St. Charles North coach Tom Poulin, whose 6-11 record doesn't reflect a team that has outscored its opponents 58 points to 56 on average.

"Our positive attitude is going to help us out going forward to accomplish our goals and get it done," Poulin said.

West Aurora (11-2) finished fifth at Pontiac. The Blackhawks whose star Juwan Starks earned first-team honors at Pontiac and got the usual choice contributions from forward Chandler Thomas, sixth man Brandon Gossett and guards Jontrel Walker and Jayquan Lee put their 3-0 DuPage Valley Conference mark to the test this weekend hosting Wheaton North and co-leader Naperville North.

In the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division, there looks to be a post-holiday dogfight with Marmion, St. Francis and Aurora Christian all at 2-1, chasing 3-1 Wheaton Academy.

"We'll find out a lot Thursday, we've got Marmion at home," said Aurora Christian coach Steve Hanson, whose fifth-place finish at Plano was just off the Eagles' No. 4 seed. Center C.J. Schutt earned all-tourney honors after finishing 10th in scoring in the 24-team field, and Hanson felt forward Johnathan Harrell also should have earned the award.

Aurora Christian (10-3) plays Marmion and St. Francis each twice and Wheaton Academy once over the next two months, when three-year varsity players Schutt, Jake Hanson, Ryan Suttle and Ryan McQuade should show their moxie.

"I wouldn't be surprised if three losses wins this side of the conference," Steve Hanson said. "We'll probably have to give a little leg up to St. Francis, they're pretty strong, but they can be beaten on any night."

If 3 losses figuratively takes the SCC Blue, Aurora Central (4-9, 1-3) has no room for error. In a telling argument for the area's most valuable individual player, since center Robert DeMyers went down with a fractured fibula Dec. 6 in a 1-point loss to Plainfield Central, the Chargers have gone 1-7. They went 1-3 at East Aurora, salvaging a day-four victory over the tourney host.

What's worse, the day before DeMyers' injury 3-shooting forward Paul Kaminski dislocated a thumb, and after trying to make a quick return was shelved. Kaminski should return next week, coach Nathan Drye said, while DeMyers sees his doctor Thursday for an update. The 6-foot-5 double-double machine has his walking boot off but is not ready to run up and down the floor, Drye said.

By the time ACC next plays, Jan. 13 at struggling Marian Central, guards Joe Medgyesi, Joey McEachern and Anthony Andujar may have their big guys back.

"The kids have been playing hard," Drye said. "They've been in all the games, given ourselves a chance, but we've been struggling to get over the hump quite a bit."

Last year ACC was 13-13 after the regular season then reached the 3A supersectionals. One can never know what this post-holiday stretch holds.

"It is what it is," Drye said. "We're not going to have a pretty record, but once we get going I think we'll be OK."