Herrera, Leyden edge Hart, Maine West

The large crowd that came out to Maine West to watch the Warriors' Conor Hart and Leyden's Alex Herrera was not disappointed.

Herrera and the Eagles were just a bit better in holding off Maine West 60-56 in a boys nonconference basketball game Tuesday night.

Herrera scored 24 points while Hart netted 18 points despite playing on a gimpy left knee he injured midway through the fourth quarter.

"I've seen Hart play in AAU ball over the summer and two years ago I played with him," said Herrera. "He's a good player. I had to be agressive tonight and be positive for us to beat them."

"He's a nifty player," said Hart of Herrera. "He killed us tonight. When the ball was in his hands, good things happened for them."

Maine West (12-11) was plagued by another slow start that saw the Eagles (14-7) break out to a 14-9 first-quarter lead. Leyden then built a 25-12 lead with 1:38 left in the first half on Brian McNamera's putback basket.

Hart, who had only 2 points to that point, finished the quarter with two baskets as the Warriors closed the gap to 27-16 at the break.

"We're getting better as a team," said Hart. "We just need to get into the attack mode early instead of waiting for the fourth quarter."

The Warriors began to be more aggressive as Maine West connected on 5 3-pointers. Three of those came from Tom Kukec, who finished with 15 points. Kevin Garcia (10 points) added 5 and Hart 6 points in a quarter that saw Maine West outscore Leyden 23-18.

"At that point we were trading baskets, but the 3s helped," said Warriors coach Erik McNeill.

Herrera was starting to heat up, too, scoring 9 points in the quarter. He had 7 at halftime.

Maine West closed the gap to 3 points on four occasions but could not get over the hump in the final quarter. With 1:33 left Herrera scored for a 58-50 lead.

With 12 seconds left, 2 free throws by Hart cut the lead to 59-56 but Herrera hit a final free throw at 0:09 left. The Warriors turned the ball over with 6.7 seconds left and the Eagles ran out the clock.

"I have to give credit to McNamera (14 points, 6 rebounds)," said Herrera. "He got us going with an inside game early and then helped open up the outside game."

"Alex is underappreciated," said Leyden coach Bill Heisler. "He's 5-foot-8, and that scares some colleges. He's talented and he knows how to play. He does everything for us and he does it in one of the toughest conferences (West Suburban Gold)."

BG 59, Lindblom 32: Alex Fritz provided a record-setting twist to Buffalo Grove's trip to the South Side of Chicago to play Lindblom in a nonconference boys basketball game Tuesday.

Fritz made a school-record eight 3-pointers and scored a career-high 30 points as BG (10-13) cruised to a 59-32 victory. One of the previous recordholders with seven was Jason Strojinc, who did it twice in 1994-95 when he was a teammate of Lindblom coach Zack Linderman.

Fritz made five 3s to spark BG to a 25-12 halftime lead. Luke Potnick also hit seven 3s in a win over Francis Parker in December as did Nick Prus last year and Pat Reynolds in 2005.

"He really got us off to a good start," BG coach Ryan O'Connor said of Fritz. "Defensively we played pretty well, in the first half especially."

O'Connor said guards Andrew Apel and Rich Zirngibl contained Lindblom's leading scorers who were returning from a Class 3A supersectional team last year. Sam Wacker added 16 points for the Bison.

Wheeling 53, Maine East 49: Wheeling (2-20) rallied from an 11-point third-quarter deficit to win the nonconference home game on senior night as Charlie Kirk led a balanced attack with 15 points.

"It would have been easy for us to fold with our record," said Wheeling coach John Clancy. "The kids battled back and it was nice to send the seniors off on senior night with a win."

Kevin Leska scored a career-high 13 points and Jeremy Stephani added 11. With Stephani and Leska in foul trouble, Nate Majkowski, Brandon Yacu and Nick Ricciardi took advantage of big minutes down the stretch.

"Our defensive pressure got a little better and we did the little things right in the second half," Clancy said.

St. Viator 63, St. Francis 45: There was no letdown for the Lions (19-3) from last Thursday's big East Suburban Catholic Conference win over Benet. They led 41-18 at halftime as Ore Arogundade scored a game-high 18 points in Wheaton.

"We played fantastic in the first half," said Viator coach Mike Howland. "We defended extremely well and moved the ball on offense. It was just fun to watch."

D.J. Morris and Mayo Arogundade made sure the ball got to the right spots. Chris Myjak (13 points) and Mark Falotico (9 points) did all of their scoring by halftime and Ore Arogundade had 12.

Kevin Walsh added 8 points and hit two 3s and Kevin Hammarlund scored 6 points for the Lions, who host Nazareth next Monday in an ESCC makeup game.

Barrington 52, Meadows 48: Brad Zaumseil scored a game-high 18 points as visiting Barrington (16-7) extended its winning streak to a season-high four games in the Mid-Suburban League crossover.

Mark Bennett scored 14 points and hit 4 of 5 free throws in the fourth quarter and John Schneider added 12 points for the Broncos. They led 13-6 after a quarter and 26-19 at halftime.

Tyler Gaedele scored 14 points and hit four 3s and Mike Rose had 12 points for Meadows (14-8), which missed all 6 of its free throws.

Schaumburg 57, Glenbard North 52: Christian Spandiary scored 20 points and Schaumburg (18-5) used 11-for-12 free-throw shooting to pull away to the nonconference win at Glenbard North.

Kyle Bolger had 16 points and Jimmy Lundquist added 9 points for the Saxons, who led 37-36 after three quarters. Bolger and Spandiary each hit two 3s and Bolger and Mike Mallett both went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line.

Prospect 77, Glenbrook South 47: Mike LaTulip scored 20 of his game-high 26 points in the third quarter and had 4 assists as host Prospect (13-7) rebounded from Friday's 75-71 MSL East loss to Elk Grove.

"Obviously, our guys were frustrated by what happened against Elk Grove," Prospect coach John Camardella said of losing a 16-point halftime lead. "I sensed a different level of focus tonight, one I think everyone is committed to maintaining the rest of the way."

Prospect also got career-highs of 15 points from Jack Landwehr and 12 points from Sam Frasco on 4 first-half 3s. Brad Reibel had 4 assists.

Glenbrook North 55, Hersey 43: Host Hersey (9-12) led 24-18 at halftime but Glenbrook North (16-5) rallied and used a 17-7 fourth quarter for the nonconference win.

Kevin Kozil had 17 points and hit two 3s and Stefan Vucicevic had 12 points for the Huskies. Kurt Karis had 16 points and Andrew McAuliffe added 15 for the Spartans.

Latin 65, Christian Liberty 59: Christian Liberty (14-9) couldn't hold a 45-40 lead after three quarters in the nonconference loss in Chicago. Kyle Moriarty had 19 points, Luke Comerouski 15 and Mike Hennek 11 for the Chargers.