Boys basketball: Pinto, Fremd squeak past Hersey, tie for MSL West lead
A Pinto got the Vikings off and running Tuesday in Palatine. Pinto also helped Fremd with a nice closing run.
Rafael Pinto sparked an 11-0 run late in the first half and then scored 9 of his team-high 19 points as Fremd held off Hersey 67-63.
With the win, Fremd (15-1, 4-1) helped throw the MSL West into a three-way tie at the halfway point with Hersey (14-3, 4-1) and Palatine (15-3, 4-1), which beat Barrington 52-51 on Tuesday.
Fremd coach Mike Brown said that Pinto’s spark was huge for the Vikings.
“The thing that was great about him was that his three-ball wasn’t going in,” Brown said. “So, he was doing other things to help our team win like play defense, get steals and go to the basket. That was really good for him and his growth.”
Fremd threatened to pull away early. The Vikings opened up with an 11-4 lead before the Huskies were able to get things going.
Hersey, whose coach Bob Widlowski was making his first trip back to Fremd after coaching there 33 years and as the varsity head coach from 2002-2024, fought back. The Huskies were able to pull ahead 17-16 on a three-pointer by Logan Luxem with 5:35 left in the half.
With the game tied at 19-19, Pinto fired up the Vikings.
A three-point play by Jordan Williams put Fremd up 22-19. Pinto then went to work, scoring the next eight points to make it 30-19.
“I really wasn’t hitting my shots like I usually do,” Pinto said. “But my teammates kept finding me. We trust each other. If I wasn’t going to hit my shots, I knew I had to impact the game another way. So I did it with my defense and my free throws.”
Fremd was able to extend its lead to 45-32 midway through the third quarter. Hersey then caught fire, going on an 8-2 run to cut the Fremd lead to 47-40.
Fremd led 55-43 on a pair of free throws by Pinto with 6:14 to play and it appeared the Vikings were on their way.
But Hersey’s Charlie Pomis and Luxem had other ideas.
The duo chipped away at the Fremd lead. And when Pomis drilled a three-pointer with 2:20 to go, it ended a 17-5 run to tie the game at 60-60.
Fremd’s Chase Nelson answered almost immediately with a three-pointer of his own to put the Vikings up for good.
Hersey was able to close to 65-63 with 11.7 seconds left on a layup by Luxem. But Pinto ended the Huskies’ thoughts of another comeback by knocking down a pair of free throws.
“We got off to a great start today,” Brown said. “Our team was ready to play. Our defense wasn’t as good as it needed to be in the second half, but offensively we played a real good game today.”
Fremd had only four players score. Fortunately for the Vikings, all four were in double figures. Along with Pinto, Nelson had 18 points, Williams 16 points and Tommy Moffett had 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Pomis led Hersey with 20 points, with 10 in the final quarter. Luxem had 16, with 9 in the fourth quarter. Eli Levya had 12 points off the bench while Jake Nawrot added 9 points.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Widlowski said. “We dug ourselves a hole in the first half. But I really liked our determination and attitude throughout the game. We just couldn’t get a stop at the end.”
Widlowski said it was good to be able to come back to his old school.
“It was definitely different coming in as visitor,” Widlowski said. “I had a lot of great games over the years in that gym.”