Boys basketball: Fremd trio shines again

These days on the area prep hardwoods there is a triangle of terror that opposing teams are having trouble dealing with.

They are Fremd's senior trio of forwards in 6-foot-7 Jordan Williams, 6-6 Rafael Pinto, and 6-5 Tommy Moffett whose abilities from inside the paint to beyond the arc have caused a nightmarish degree of difficulty for foes over the past two winters.

And it happened once again on Fremd’s home floor Friday night as the trio helped vault the home team to a dominant 54-42 win over Barrington.

The win kept the defending Mid-Suburban West champions (16-1, 5-1) on top of the standings as they entered into West play tied with Hersey and Palatine.

"Today we came in ready to play and our defense was really locked in, playing hard and being connected," Vikings second-year mentor Mike Brown said.

"That was a key, not the key, to the game. We (also) got a lot of stops early."

Those stops were the building blocks to victory for Fremd as it used them to fuel the decisive 14-2 run that gave them a 16-5 advantage after one.

It featured 6 of Pinto's game-high 17 points and was topped off by a turnaround jumper off a rebound from Williams (11 points, 11 rebounds) at the horn.

Then, the Vikings began the second quarter with a 10-0 surge featuring a pair of Moffett's 5 assists including one that led to a Chase Nelson three which put Fremd ahead 26-5 with 5:46 remaining in the first half.

Barrington (6-11, 0-6) got no closer than the game's final score courtesy of a 11-0 run over the final 68 seconds after the starters had been pulled.

Senior guards Evan Shechtman (11 points) and Oliver Gray (8 points) paced the Broncos who dropped their seventh straight.

Moffett, who joined senior squadmate Charlie Chlan with 7 points on the evening, gave credit to their ability to regain focus after a Tuesday win over Hersey that moved them back into first place in the West.

"We couldn't get too high because they're (Barrington) a very good team,“ Moffett said. ”We came out locked in and played strong. We've been playing together for a long time (so) we play off each other so well and building that chemistry starts every day in practice."