Wave trip to Quincy beneficial
St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek is no copycat.
Yes, Chuipek coached in the Jacobs program for eight seasons during which time he made multiple trips to Quincy with the Golden Eagles when they competed in the Blue Devils' annual Thanksgiving tournament.
However, that isn't why the Green Wave made like Jacobs last weekend and headed to the Gem City to play a road game.
St. Edward assistant coach Bryant Biasotti happens to be a Quincy University graduate. He recommended the Wave make the road trip to play Quincy Notre Dame, counsel Chuipek agreed with whole-heartedly.
The Green Wave (8-15) led Notre Dame (14-10) by a point with 1:20 to play before 2 turnovers enabled the Raiders to turn the tide for a 61-56 victory.
However, Saturday's game was definitely a case of getting there being half the fun.
"It was an awesome time," Chuipek said. "It was good bonding for the kids. Even though it was a six-hour ride with 20 minutes for the driver to rest, it went extremely quick because of the great talks we were having.
"It was just good for the kids to be together for 48 hours to see how basketball is played in a city that has a lot of pride and a lot of basketball tradition."
Now that the team is home, it is helping lending the program a financial hand and assisting others simultaneously.
On Saturday every member of the St. Edward boys basketball program will compete in a free throw "shoot-a-thon" at the gym on Locust St.
The goal is to raise money for the program as it tries to move forward, but St. Edward will also donate 33 percent of all monies raised to breast cancer research.
Anyone who would like to donate to the cause can call Chuipek at (847) 363-2812.
In a Cary-Groove:ŒThings are looking up for Cary-Grove after a frustrating start to 2008. The Trojans lost 4 of their first 5 games in January, each by 5 points or less.
However, the Trojans subsequently won 4 of their next 5 to improve to 13-10 overall and 4-2 in Valley Division play heading into Thursday night's rescheduled home game against Woodstock.
Their only setback during that stretch was a 66-60 loss to area power Jacobs (21-2).
Cary-Grove's four wins were bookended by victories against Dundee-Crown (11-10, 4-3).
"Beating D-C twice in the same year, that's pretty darn good because they're a good program," Trojans coach Ralph Schuetzle said.
Tuesday's 59-55 win in Carpentersville gave Cary-Grove sole possession of second place in the Valley Division.
"Right now our goal is to try to finish second in the league unless we get a ton of help from (Crystal Lake) South and D-C," Schuetzle said in reference to catching first-place Jacobs. "The best we've ever finished was third, so this would be a step in the right direction."
Blame Mother Nature:ŒIf St. Edward senior Brett Manning doesn't reach 1,000 career points, he has a legitimate beef with the weather.
Manning, who is 10th in area scoring with a 15.6 points-per-game average, is sitting on 954 career points heading into tonight's regular-season finale at Marmion Academy.
The Green Wave are guaranteed to play once more on Monday when they square off against Plano in the play-in game of the Class 2A Aurora Christian regional.
If St. Edward beats Plano and Manning plays to his average, he could be within range of the milestone in Tuesday's game against top-seeded Genoa-Kingston.
However, the three-year varsity starter wouldn't have to sweat the milestone out if a Feb. 5 nonconference game at Harvard had not been canceled due to snow.
Harvard, suffering through a 1-21 season, opted not to reschedule the game, according to St. Edward coach Keith Chuipek, citing a schedule conflict.
Staying center-ed:ŒCrystal Lake South is making due this weekend without the services of center Zac Carpenter, who injured a knee last Saturday in the Gators' victory at Woodstock.
CL South was awaiting the results of an MRI on Carpenter's injury on Wednesday, believed to be a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Torn ligament or not, Carpenter has been ruled out for the remainder of the basketball season.
Also a top baseball player for South, Carpenter could miss his senior season on the diamond if the MRI reveals a tear.
The injury is bad news for the CL South basketball team, which is in the throes of 4 games in five days, a stretch that concludes with dates tonight at McHenry and tomorrow against Dundee-Crown at Gator Alley.
D-C's Jeff Beck scored 30 points against the Gators in the Chargers' 53-46 victory in Crystal Lake on Jan. 25.
"It's a pretty big game," Beck said. "We had a big lead on South the last time and they came back, so we know they're going to come out strong and want to get revenge on us."
Congratulations, Fred:ŒIt's only February, but baseball was the name of the game last Saturday when Dundee-Crown coach Fred Bencriscutto was inducted into the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame during a dinner at the Bulls/Sox Academy in Lisle.
It is humbling to be considered part of that group," said Bencriscutto. "I never considered myself a hall-of-fame coach, so to be elected by my peers is quite an honor.
"I was really pleased that so many members of my family, including my mother, were able to attend. That made it special."
Bencriscutto has compiled 295 wins, 270 losses and 3 ties and four Fox Valley Conference or Valley Division titles in his 18 seasons. His Chargers reached the Elite Eight in Class AA in 2001 and 2007.
Bencriscutto will retire from teaching and coaching at the conclusion of the current school year.