Scouting the Dundee-Crown sectional
Class 4A Dundee-Crown sectional
Semifinal matchups: Rockford Auburn (28-2) vs. Huntley (26-3), today at 7:30 p.m.; Elgin (25-3) vs. McHenry (13-15), Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
How they got here: Huntley defeated DeKalb 40-37 and Larkin 46-42 to win the Huntley regional; Auburn defeated Harlem 66-46 and Hononegah 56-40 to win the Auburn regional; Elgin defeated South Elgin 41-21 and St. Charles East 57-52 to win the St. Charles North regional; McHenry defeated Cary-Grove 45-40 and Crystal Lake South 51-44 to win the Cary-Grove regional.
Huntley vs. Auburn: Time to find out how much difference a year makes. These teams met last March in the sectional title game at Jacobs, and it was all Auburn in a 59-31 victory. Both teams return three of five starters. To better compete with the Knights, the Red Raiders must dictate a slower tempo and sink a high percentage of their shots. Easier said than done.
"As we watched the tape from last year, we saw we forced a few shots early," Huntley coach Marty Manning said, "but we also missed some shots we should have made. Whether that was sectional final jitters or what, we have to make shots we should make. We can't miss open layups and open shots and, on top of that, have turnovers when we're not even pressured. They're going to force a few turnovers with the way they play. When the opportunity presents itself to score the basketball, we have to be aggressive and take advantage of it."
Auburn's elite guard tandem of seniors Fred Van Vleet (6-0) and LaMark Foote (5-11) each achieved major milestones in Friday's 56-40 rout of Rockton Hononegah in the Auburn regional title game. Van Vleet, a Wichita State recruit, became the all-time leading scorer among Rockford's four public high schools. Van Vleet passed Jefferson's Richard Carter and now has 1,620 career points, according to the Rockford Register Star. Van Vleet does it all. He averages 20 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals per game. Foote led the Knights with 23 points against Hononegah and has 1,020 in his career. Foote sank four 3-pointers Friday to keep the Indians from rallying. He averages 14 ppg. Senior guard Elijah Smith sank three 3-pointers in a minute to power a 21-2 run against Hononegah, one of two teams to defeat Auburn during the regular season. Highly ranked Proviso East was the other (75-56).
"Honestly, there's not much difference between last year and this year's team," Manning said of Auburn. "From watching them, I'd say Van Vleet is more assertive trying to score the basketball. He's very difficult to stop, not just one-on-one, but difficult to stop period. They play very well together. I'm hoping our guys play with the confidence of having played them before. I think we are mentally prepared. Our team is a pretty stoic and unemotional group. It's tough to get a read on them. The main thing we preach, especially at basketball tournament time, is that anything can happen in one short game. If we dictate the type of game we want to play, we'll have a chance to be successful."
Huntley is led by three, third-year varsity performers: senior guard Troy Miller (10.1 ppg, 58 3-pointers, 56 steals), senior guard Justin Frederick (8.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and junior Bryce Only (9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 58 steals). Huntley's scoring leader is 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Amanze Egekeze (11.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 65 blocks).
Elgin vs. McHenry: The Maroons are a heavy favorite to advance to a sectional title game for the first time since Mike Sitter's first season as coach in 2007-08. That doesn't mean victory can be taken for granted against a team with 15 losses.
"We have a long track record throughout this season of not coming out and bringing our best performance against teams we don't think we need to play hard against," Sitter said. "We've come out and played some real stinkers against some under-. 500 teams. Our players' first comment when they saw McHenry's record was that we can't wait until the fourth quarter to turn it on. Hopefully, we won't see that. Hopefully, we realize that it's a sectional game, that (McHenry is) the underdog and they have nothing to lose. They are going to play their hearts out, so we have to match their intensity and play as hard and as well as they do and get a W."
Led by tri-captains Kory Brown (17 ppg, 7 rpg), Dennis Moore (11 ppg) and Arie Williams (13 ppg), the Maroons use their hounding defense and rebounding prowess to jump start a dangerous transition game. This Elgin team has won more games than any at the school since 1999-2000. They seek their second sectional in five years and their 10th since 1972. These Maroons are peaking, having won 9 straight entering sectional play.
"It's a much different feel because last year we were struggling at this time," Sitter said. "We struggled to get out of regionals. We had a last-second win vs. Streamwood and a last-second win vs. Dundee-Crown. This year, I thought our regional was a little tougher and we played a little better. Our momentum down the stretch of the regular season was good and the kids have an attitude that they can't lose. That's great to have. We want them walking on the court having that feeling that they can't lose."
McHenry 's 6-foot-4 rebounding machine, Robert Tonyan, averages 10 boards per game. He pulled down 13 rebounds in a win over Cary-Grove. Tonyan, a quarterback committed to Indiana State, led the Warriors with 16 points against CL South. Elgin senior Gerardo Mojica (6-3) will draw the defensive assignment.
"He's athletic," Sitter said of Tonyan. "It's not like he's a 6-5 tackle playing basketball. He's an athletic kid who can run the floor pretty well. That's something Gerardo is going to have to do. No night off for him, he'll have to bust his butt and we'll have to have four guys giving help side to Gerardo. We have to play good defense and not let their shooters get open looks.
Advancement: The winner of the Dundee-Crown sectional advances to face the winner of the Barrington sectional at the DeKalb (NIU) supersectional on Tuesday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. The matchups at Barrington are Warren (24-3) vs. Lake Forest (18-10) tonight at 7:30 p.m., St. Viator (25-3) vs. Mundelein (25-7) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.