A look back at the end of the line for Fox Valley's Class 4A teams

Opening week of the Class 4A boys basketball tournament in the Fox Valley is in the books - and what a week it was.

While Jacobs and St. Charles East survived and advanced to this week's Rockford sectional semifinals at Rock Valley College by capturing regional titles, last week marked the end of the line for several other teams.

At St. Charles East, the regional tournament began with a 63-60 quarterfinal upset win by 10th-seeded St. Charles North over seventh-seeded Bartlett.

For North Stars head coach Tom Poulin, the date February 29th will always hold a special meaning in his heart.

Poulin, who doubles as the North Stars' varsity softball coach, spent part of his day in a rare pregame activity - he got married.

A few hours later, Poulin had even more to celebrate - his team's postseason victory.

"My day started with our first softball practice before school," said Poulin. "Then I got married and coached the basketball game."

Bartlett finished 18-11 thanks in part to the play of seniors Robby Jimenez, Brett Awalt, Tyler Pauletti, Benjamin Reyes and Jason Hasenberg.

Streamwood ended its season with a 51-36 regional quarterfinal loss to the host Saints.

Despite finishing with a 5-24 record - which matched their victory total from a year ago - the Sabres showed progress under third-year coach Paul Kowalyszyn.

Streamwood began its Upstate Eight Conference River Division season with a shocking 50-47 victory over Geneva - 1 of just 7 losses the Vikings suffered. The Sabres also battled eventual conference champion Batavia to the wire before dropping a 54-52 road decision, took St. Charles North to overtime in a 69-61 loss, and played competitive basketball against St. Charles East in their postseason debut (trailed 21-20 at halftime).

"We're moving our program in the right direction to where it's going to be a dogfight when you play Streamwood and not a blowout," said Kowalyszyn.

Against St. Charles East last week, Streamwood's starting lineup included junior guard Jesse Rico and sophomore forwards Philip Cruz and Brendon Marton.

"We've got to keep building on this," added Kowalyszyn.

At South Elgin, the ninth-seeded Storm came within a minute and a half of knocking off top-seeded DeKalb last Tuesday.

Julian Lynch split a pair of free throws with 1:32 left to give South Elgin a 49-48 lead but the Barbs closed out the game with a 6-0 run to finish the home team's season.

Finish was a key word for first-year coach Jim Cook's squad that went 13-17.

"You've got to make the free throws down the stretch and we didn't make them," said Cook, whose team missed 3 free throws over the final 2:05. "We learned that we've got to finish on both ends."

Central Michigan-bound guard Matt Smith was one of seven seniors playing their final high school game.

"For this to be over, it's really sad," said the 4-year varsity standout. "We were all in there (locker room) crying. It shows the kind of brotherhood that we have here."

Cook talked about togetherness following his team's loss to DeKalb.

"They're family - it has nothing to do with basketball," he said. "Creating a family is more important. If you can create relationships, you've got it made."

Last Wednesday, a pair of familiar foes squared off in what had to be one of the best regional semifinal matchups in the state as fifth-seeded St. Charles East (17-12) exacted some revenge on third-seeded Geneva (22-7) on the Saints' home court.

A year ago, Geneva defended its court with a 73-70 regional championship win over St. Charles East. This time, the Saints were victorious by the same margin, 48-45, in a defensive tussle.

Ten seniors, including leading scorer Bennett Fuzak, saw their high school careers end.

"A lot of people doubted us and we pushed through," said Fuzak, who poured in a team-high 14 points against St. Charles East.

Geneva, which placed fourth in the state a year ago, played its entire season without bruising 6-8 center Loudon Vollbrecht (torn ACL).

"Our kids had a heck of a run," said Vikings coach Phil Ralston, whose teams have posted a 98-27 record the past four years. "They want to talk about adversity - how about losing your best returning player (Vollbrecht) for the entire season.

"Bennett stepped up big time this year - big time. He gave us things that we couldn't have even imagined, and we missed him for four weeks (concussion). We also missed Sean (Chambers) for six weeks. That's three guys who had starter's minutes last year that we missed for an extended period of time. This group overachieved."

Batavia (20-10) certainly fit that description as well as coach Jim Nazos guided the Bulldogs to their first UEC River title since 2008 (10-2 mark).

Nine seniors, led by All-Area co-Honorary Co-Captain Canaan Coffey, played their final prep games during Friday's 58-41 loss to St. Charles East.

"These seniors were the blueprint of how to do things," said Nazos. "They were the perfect guys you want to coach."

Craig Brueske can be reached at csb4k@hotmail.com.