Benet's Sobolewski, Parisi join lofty ranks

Isiah Thomas. Doc Rivers. Kevin Garnett. Jeff Hornacek. Hersey Hawkins. Juwan Howard. Corey Maggette. Shannon Brown. Evan Turner.

The list is endless. And now it includes Dave Sobolewski and Matt Parisi.

Benet's guard tandem placed itself in legendary company as Parisi and Sobolewski earned first-team all-tournament honors at last week's 50th annual Proviso West Holiday Tournament.

Sobolewski received an added accolade by being named the tournament's most valuable player after averaging 18.3 points and 7 assists in four wins as the Redwings (14-0) won the championship. He scored a game-high 19 points in a 54-50 overtime win against Homewood-Flossmoor in the final.

The Proviso West championship is the first for a DuPage County school since Downers Grove North beat Proviso East in the 1966 title game.

With a dizzying, intense and immensely successful week in the bag, the Northwestern-bound senior knows it'll take some time for everything to sink in.

"It hasn't hit me yet," Sobolewski said. "I really shouldn't be in the same category as the other guys who won this MVP award. I owe it all to my teammates. It's an honor, but I'm just glad we won the championship.

No panic on 95th Street:

Depth has always been a trademark of the good Neuqua Valley teams. This year's Wildcats unit lacks big names like Dwayne Evans, but depth helped Neuqua (13-0) to the title at the Elgin Holiday Tournament.

"Everyone chips in a little bit," coach Todd Sutton said after the 56-53 defeat of Elgin in the title game. "It's someone different every night."

Hampered with foul trouble against Fremd in the second-round game at Elgin, Sutton's son, Tyler, played out of position at point guard while scoring 12 points. Sophomore center Pat Kenny and junior forward Nate Boudreau expanded their roles as well, and junior guard Peter Catchings younger brother of former All-Area captain Bobby Catchings impressed defensively while usual suspects Sam Johnson and Jim Stocki "led the way," Todd Sutton said.

The next night, against Wheaton North, center Alex Karkazis had the best game by a Wildcats post player that assistant Mike O'Toole remembered anyone having, 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 charges drawn.

In the championship game sophomore Jabari Sandifer and senior Sean Pyritz combined to give the Wildcats their best point guard play of the tournament. Sandifer had a key layup and an assist for a Tyler Sutton 3 down the stretch, plus a hand in the face on Elgin's final shot attempt.

"All these things add up to a more confident team when things are going good, and on nights when things are not going good," Todd Sutton said. "Therefore, you won't see any panic by anyone on this team."

Difference maker:

In three long games last month all losses York struggled through life without Will Sullivan.

At last week's Jack Tosh Holiday Tournament, the fourth-year varsity guard made a strong return to the court.

"You take a player like that out of your lineup, and it's just not the same," said York coach Dominic Cannon. "He's the leader out there."

The Dukes finished third at the Tosh behind the play of Sullivan, who missed games against Glenbard East, Marian Catholic and Lyons Twp. because of a calf injury. Named all-tournament at York, the 6-foot-3 senior averaged 24.8 points, including a 27-point performance in the third-place win over Brother Rice.

Others also contributed, including sophomore point guard David Cohn. Cody Kliethermes nearly made the all-tournament team and Mike Despinich notched a double-double against Brother Rice.

Now that Sullivan's back in the fold, the Dukes hope to make a second-half run starting with Friday's West Suburban Silver game at Glenbard West.

"I always think you get better as a team when your best player is out for a little while," Cannon said. "It forces you to do things you don't normally do and makes others step up. I think that's what's happened with us."

Winterim in Virginia:

Post-Christmas break means Winterim for Wheaton Academy. Last year it was North Carolina, and this year Virginia this year. The itinerary includes education, service and, naturally, basketball.

On Monday the Warriors watched 2010 graduate Tim Rusthoven score 9 points with 4 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in William & Mary's 61-59 loss to UNC-Wilmington at Kaplan Arena in Williamsburg.

After practicing Tuesday they visted Colonial Williamsburg. Wednesday they served in a soup kitchen from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and that night played Walsingham Academy, which entered the game 10-4.

Jan. 6 was reserved as a historical adventure to Jamestown and Yorktown. Friday offered practice at University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena before the big North Carolina-Virginia game that night.

These are really neat trips. Last year, however, Wheaton Academy (12-0) suffered its first loss of the season on Winterim. The Rusthoven-led Warriors won their first 13 games before falling to Charlotte (N.C.) Christian.

The current team, which enjoyed a 21.5-point average margin of victory to claim Glenbard West's tournament title, is diverse. The Warriors can score in different ways, from the athleticism of Larry Reynolds and Wes Koral to the post presence of Luke Johnson and Tate Fritz's inside-outside abilities.

Koral and Fritz each scored 16 points in the 56-46 win over Nazareth for the Glenbard West title. Koral, a second-team all-tourney pick at Lemont last season as a junior at Joliet Catholic, was named all-tourney along with the 6-9 Johnson.

"We've gotten contributions from different guys this year," Ferguson said. "The Nazareth game was a great example."

Sophomore surge:

Lake Park entered the Wheeling tournament seeded fourth and came out of it with third place. The Lancers as a whole have perhaps done better than expected in coach Josh Virostko's second season in Roselle.

"It makes a big difference being in your second year as coach," said Virostko, who has only two seniors, the experienced 6-4 Zack Cooper and the less-experienced but high-scoring point guard, Eric Eichholz.

"I think we had kids that just didn't know how to win, and now they've had success," Virostko said. "And if you win early, that becomes contagious. I think the kids have the fever and they've embraced it."

The key to their success is ball movement. Led by Eichholz, the Lancers are averaging 17 assists a game.

That's produced six games in which they've landed three double-figure scorers and four other games with four players in double figures, including the 69-64 win over Libertyville for third place at Wheeling. Eichholz scored 16 points, Zack Wagner 15 and guard Nack Zanghi and forward Dominique Spencer with 12 each.

Lake Park will need more of the same to equal its first-half success. The Lancers play Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley, East Aurora and South Elgin twice each plus Bartlett, Conant, Hersey and Metea Valley, which dealt the Lancers an Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division loss on Dec. 4.

"The back end of our schedule is going to be very, very tough," Virostko said.

Tough choice:

Downers Grove South's Jerron Wilbut was named most valuable player at York's Jack Tosh Holiday Tournament, a deserving honor for the 6-foot-3 junior who helped lead the Mustangs to the tourney title.

Mustangs coach Jay Baum, however, could have easily carved the award into five pieces and dispersed them to each of his starters.

"I don't know how many teams go into that tournament expecting to win it, but we just played really well as a team," Baum said. "Every game it's somebody different. It's pick your poison against us."

Wilbut, who leads the team with about 15 points a game, is one of four players averaging double-figure scoring for the Mustangs. A fifth player averages 9.8 points.

Jamall Millison provided the game-winning basket in overtime against Lyons Twp. in the Tosh title game. Point guard Dan Jurgitas brought a steady presence, Kevin Honn hit 8 of 9 shots against Riverside-Brookfield, and Baum believes 6-8 Ziggy Riauka may be the team's MVP this season because of his consistent play in the post.

Beyond the scoring, though, the Mustangs also have been playing stellar team defense. They held potent Riverside-Brookfield to 31 points through three quarters and limited Glenbard South to 29 points for the game.

Downers South looks to keep its momentum going in Saturday's nonconference game against visiting Waubonsie Valley.

"One coach described our defense as being very disruptive, and I think that's a great compliment," Baum said. "When we're working as a unit like that, we're tough to score on."