Boys basketball: Scouting Cook County postseason

There could be lots of extras when the boys basketball state tournament begins next week.

Seeds were released last week and as expected, Fremd, Palatine and Hersey received the top three seeds at the Class 4A Fremd sectional. And in meetings between the teams this season, Fremd beat Palatine in overtime and Hersey in four overtimes, while Hersey defeated Palatine in triple overtime while Palatine beat both Fremd and Hersey by double digits in December.

Fremd (24-2), which lost its only other game in overtime to Lakes, will be looking to make a deep run behind its talented trio of Jordan Williams, Rafael Pinto and Tommy Moffett, who has played extremely well the past few weeks. Chase Nelson, Ricardo Requena Zambrano and Charlie Chlan have also been key contributors.

In order for the Vikings to return back home for sectionals, they will have to navigate the Schaumburg regional. Fremd will open next Tuesday against the winner of Larkin (11-17) and 17th-seed Wheeling (6-21), which has been led by Zach Neukrich all season.

The winner of that game will meet the winner of eighth-seeded and regional host Schaumburg (18-10) and Lake Zurich (13-14). Schaumburg coach Jason Tucker, who recently picked up his 250th victory, is led by Cam Anderson, Ray Black, Masyn Harrell and Tony Horton Jr.. Lake Zurich is paced by 6-foot-4 senior Kain Kretschma, who recently topped the 1,000-point mark.

Palatine (25-4), which is hosting its regional, is 13-0 on its home court. The Pirates have got solid play from Tont Balanganayi all season while Robbi Wilcox, Abram Williams, Brady May, Darrin Dick and Will Santiago have all stepped up.

Palatine will play Tuesday and meet the winner of the play-in game between 15th-seeded Elk Grove (10-19) and 18th-seed Dundee-Crown (6-19). Elk Grove has been getting great play from Cooper Casterton as well as Khaleel Khan, Matt Novak and Nolan Brand. With an opening playoff victory, the Grenadiers would have their first playoff win since 2023. The 11 wins would equal the number of wins of the past three seasons combined.

The second game at Palatine will feature a pair of scoring phenoms in Barrington’s Oliver Gray and Maine West’s Dayvion Tate. Barrington (10-14), which is seeded seventh, is 8-6 outside of MSL West play while Maine West (14-14) is 10-8 outside of CSL North action.

Hersey (17-7) is the third seed and will be at Prospect. The Huskies have Charlie Pomis, who is coming off a career-high 45 points last Friday against Fremd. Logan Luxem and Jake Nawrot have also been key scorers while Ethan Gries and Kyle Irwin have been major contributors.

The Huskies will match up against Monday’s play-in game between South Elgin (10-20) and Elgin (4-25). The other semifinal will be an old MSL East matchup with Rolling Meadows and Prospect.

Rolling Meadows (16-12) and Prospect (12-16) have split their two games this season. Meadows has been paced by Tyler Stankiewicz, Drew Krestel and Marty Lesner while Prospect has been led by Quinn Zinzer, Danny Simon and Colin Tucker.

The Hoffman Estates regional could prove to be quite interesting.

The host Hawks (27-3) have flown way under the radar while winning the revamped MSL East. They have won 15 in a row heading into the MSL title game with Fremd on Wednesday Coach Peter McBride, who is in his fifth year as a head coach, won his 100th career game recently.

Torey Baskin, who is one of the top players in the area, has been a key factor in the success. The Hawks also have been leaning on Chris Mobley, Ramon Rosario, Cam James and Bryce Smith.

Hoffman, which is seeded fifth, will open with Buffalo Grove, who the Hawks have defeated in both of their meetings this season. Buffalo Grove (11-17) has been getting great play from Alex Sirbu, who is averaging 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Edwin Karnauchovas.

The other regional semifinal will have fourth-seeded Stevenson battling 13th-seed Conant. Stevenson (19-9) is led by Rocco Pagliocca, Aidan Albrecht and Donovan Williams. Conant (8-19) has been keyed all season by the play of Jakub Glowacki and Bryce Harris.

The winner of the Fremd sectional will meet the winner of the Loyola sectional at the Hoffman Estates supersectional at the Now Centre.

At the Loyola sectional, three-time defending state champion DePaul is the top seed. Evanston is second, Loyola third, St. Patrick fourth and New Trier fifth in a very competitive sectional. Both Maine East and Maine South are also in the sectional, and both picked up tough first-round draws.

Maine East (19-9), which is seeded ninth, will get a rerun with Glenbrook North (21-8), which is the eighth seed. The two teams met Tuesday in Northbrook and now will play a week later at Maine East. It will be the third time the teams have played with Maine East beating the Spartans 69-57 in early December.

Maine South (12-16) received a 10-seed. The Hawks, who have been led by Panayiotis Sotos averaging nearly 19 points, drew CSL North winner Niles North in their opener at Evanston. The winner of that game should meet Evanston in the regional final.

At the Bartlett sectional, despite a 20-win season, Leyden, which is 12-3 in their last 15 games, was given a seventh seed. The Eagles (20-8) are led by Ernesto Sanchez who is averaging 19 points and Mohamed El-Hindi, who is at 16 points. Sophomores Kevin Sanchez and Robert Darling have also been key contributors for Leyden, which will play Glenbard West in the opening round.

In the Class 3A Deerfield sectional, St. Viator was awarded the top seed over Deerfield and Northen Lake County Conference winner Wauconda and runner-up Grayslake Central.

Viator (19-10) has lost its last two games before Friday’s regular season finale at Marist. But the Lions have played in the rugged East Suburban Catholic Conference as well as a solid nonconference schedule that included wins over Christ The King, Richards, Libertyville and Prospect.

The Lions are led by Dawson Charles, who averages 16 points, and Jacob Only, who is averaging 13 points. A first-round win could land regional host Viator a game with sixth-seeded Lakes, which upset Fremd earlier this season, in the regional final.

In Class 1A, Schaumburg Christian (15-12) was awarded the fifth seed in the Somonauk sub-regional of the Amboy sectional. The Conquerors will face Trinity Oaks Christian from Cary in their opening game.