Glassmann, Fremd too much for Lake Zurich

Riley Glassmann and Fremd's boys basketball team put on a shooting clinic against Lake Zurich on Friday night in the Hersey regional final in Arlington Heights.

The Vikings senior was relentless from the field, converting 10 of 13 shots as Fremd rolled past the Bears 58-44.

The Mid-Suburban champs (27-0) continued their unbeaten season and will meet Highland Park at the Lake Zurich sectional on Wednesday.

Glassmann didn't start the game in championship form, air-mailing his first shot.

But from there, he was a complete deadeye, hitting eight consecutive and going 4-for-5 from outside the arc.

"My teammates got me the ball early," said Glassmann, who finished with 26 points. "I hit a couple of shots and it got us going. They set some screens for me and I made some shots."

Glassmann got the Vikings off to a huge start.

With the game tied at 4, Glassmann scored the next 10 points, hitting two 3-pointers during the run as the Vikings built a 16-4 lead with 52 seconds left in the first quarter.

"Obviously, Riley played real well tonight," said Fremd coach Bob Widlowski. "He steps up in the big games and he did that for us tonight."

After Glassmann got things rolling, Matt Ochoa took his turn.

The 6-foot-6 forward scored Fremd's next 6 points as the Vikings increased their lead to 22-8 with 6:57 left in the first half.

"We wanted to come out strong and fast," said Ochoa, who finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds. "We wanted to be the aggressor. I thought our first quarter we came out real strong."

Lake Zurich (19-9) had a modest run of 5 unanswered points to cut the lead to 22-14.

Fremd extended the lead again to 30-16 with with 3:39 left in the half when Lake Zurich turned up its defense.

Forcing 4 turnovers, the Bears, behind the play of Mike Travlos (20 points), rallied to make it 31-26 with 49.6 seconds left in the first half.

But Fremd's Jason Roundy buried a 3-pointer from the left corner as time expired to put the Vikes up 34-26 at the half.

"I thought the big thing for Fremd was their physicality and defense," said Lake Zurich coach Billy Pitcher. "We needed more guys knocking down some shots.

"We made a run at the end of the half. And we switched defenses to stop them."

Fremd slowed the game down to start the second half.

The Vikings used three minutes in their first three possessions and converted on each possession to build a 40-28 lead.

Fremd pulled away late in the third quarter thanks to Glassmann.

Leading 43-35, Glassmann nailed a 3-pointer and a 2-point field goal.

Ochao also made a layup as Fremd put the clamps on the Bears with a 50-35 lead with 6:41 to play.

The Vikings' Ben Carlson, who finished with 9 points and 6 rebounds, was impressed with how his team played defense.

"We just wanted to play sound on defense," said Carlson whose team forced 14 turnovers. "Our goal was to stop them and keep them away from second chances."

Widlowski was pleased at how his team has continued to be focused in its play.

"I thought we played very well tonight," Widlwoski said. "That's two games in a row we played great defense. I thought (Garrett) Groot and (Xavier) Williams did a great job guarding Travlos."

Lake Zurich, which got 9 points from Will McClaughry and will have three starters returning next year, has lots to build on for next season.

"We are proud of what we accomplished this year," Pitcher said. "Our goal was a 20-win season and a regional title. We just finished one game short."