Ridgewood knocks out Vernon Hills
Ridgewood's boys basketball team showed why it earned one of the top seeds in the Grayslake Central sectional.
Playing on their home court, the second-seeded Rebels defeated No. 7 Vernon Hills 66-56 to capture a Class 3A regional championship in Norridge Friday night.
Ridgewood will travel to Grayslake Central to play Lakes in a sectional semifinal Wednesday night.
"Vernon Hills is a good team and a well-coached team," Rebels coach Chris Mroz said."From this game on, we are just going to have to grind it out.
Vernon Hills (15-13) was playing in its fourth regional final in five years.
"We hung around, but we just couldn't get over the hump," Cougars coach Matt McCarty said. "We didn't make free throws that we needed to whenever we were about to get the lead."
In the first quarter, Vernon Hills' MJ Crowley sank the first of his three 3-pointers to give the Cougars a 6-4 lead.
But Ridgewood finished the quarter with the hot hand to take an 18-15 lead and led 35-31 at halftime.
The hosts then opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run, as Andy Mazurczak put in a layup and Pete Mroz swished back-to-back 3s.
Mazurczak led all scorers with 20 points, including a 10-of-11 effort from the foul line, while Mroz finished with 16 points.
"In the third quarter, we just picked up our energy," Mazurczak said. "Plus, we moved the ball better."
Darren Hoveydai finished his Vernon Hills career by scoring a team-high 15 points.
"It's been a great experience playing with my teammates and playing for this coaching staff," Hoveydai said. "I will never forget these guys."
Trenton Fulton added 12 points for Vernon Hills and Crowley had 11.
St. Viator 78, Meadows 54: Friday's Class 4A regional championship at Rolling Meadows turned out to be a big night for the St. Viator Lions.
The second-seeded Lions toppled the host Mustangs 78-54 to advance to Wednesday's sectional semifinal at Barrington, where they will play Mundelein at 7:30 p.m.
St. Viator also set a school record for wins with its 25th against just 3 losses. One of the main reasons for the historic win was sophomore Ore Arogundade.
Arogundade scored a career-high 29 points on 14-of-15 shooting from the field to go along with 10 rebounds.
"I could not have scored the 29 points without my teammates," said a jubilant Arogundade. "I wanted to come out tonight and bring it to another level.
"It wasn't easy to get the points, they made me work for it. We had to get a fast start out of the gate."